Weird bug in Idaho
Location: Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
August 20, 2011 2:49 am
I shot this picture August 17th at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the late afternoon. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
Signature: Kelly, Everett, WA
Robber Fly
Dear Kelly,
This magnificent predator is a Giant Robber Fly, and Robber Flies just might get the prize for the most adroit insect predators who hunt on the wing. Large Robber Flies can kill large Dragonflies. The closest match we could find on BugGuide at the start of our research was for Proctacanthus heros, though to the best of our knowledge, that is a southern species. The red legs and red abdomen look very similar to your individual. We suspected it was the same genus, however, there are no other matching images that we could find on BugGuide. We did locate this marvelous Random Natural Acts web page titled Proctacanthids devoted to the genus. At last we discovered this photo of Stenopogon inquinatus from British Columbia on BugGuide that looks like a very close visual match to your individual, and we believe that is a correct species identification. Random Natural Acts also has a Stenopogon page.
please identify this carnivorous? bug
Location: 01867
August 19, 2011 8:06 am
seen outside yesterday north of boston
Signature: -bugged out
Red Footed Cannibalfly eats House Fly
Dear bugged out,
The predator is a Robber Fly known as a Red Footed Cannibalfly and it is eating a House Fly.
Red-footed canibalfly(?) and bug love
Location: Kirksville, MOAugust 18, 2011 6:50 pmI’ve been seeing a large number of these robber flies around the area for the past month or so, now. Their size is very impressive. I had been wondering what kind they were, exactly, so I was very happy to see so many photos of the red-footed cannibalfly on your site. That’s what it appears to be, at least! Some of them buzzed so close that I feared they were horse flies (which have also been very thick, lately). I felt a little silly (and relieved!)when I realized that the giant insect that had landed on my shirt while I was hiking was just a robber fly. I spotted a number of them along the trail that were mating, as well and I had to snap a few photos because robber flies are some of my favorites – their little muttonchops are just so charming!
Signature: EB
Red Footed Cannibalfly eating small insect
Dear EB,
We love your stunning photographs of Red Footed Cannibalflies eating and mating. We hope you don’t mind that we cropped and rotated them to fit our format.
Mating Red Footed Cannibalflies
3
Buzzing in the Brown eye Susan
Location: northeast Missouri (backyard)
August 18, 2011 1:30 pm
Hi! This creature was found hovering near Brown eye Susan’s on 8/17, at 7:53pm , heavy twilight. Actually there were 3 of them. They made a loud buzzing sound. They made no attempt to sting us, or get near us, they would hover in mid air and ”look” at us. My brain could only think a moth creature. In my moth guide the only one I could find resembling the not very clear pictures is a ”bagworm” moth. What do you think?
Signature: Jan
Female Horse Fly Hovering
Hi Jan,
Your photos of a hovering female Horse Fly are a wonderful addition to our site because they reveal the female of the family as more than a blood sucking fiend. She also feeds from flowers. You can tell she is a female by the space between her eyes.
Hovering Horse Fly
3
Pseudoscorpion Holding onto House Fly
Location: Southwest Indiana
August 18, 2011 11:58 am
Hi!
I just want to let you know how much my family and I appreciate your site. After searching, I never fail to identify the bug I am looking for.
I am including pictures of what I believe, thanks to your site, is a Pseudoscorpion hitching a ride on a house fly. He was actually holding onto the fly’s mouthpiece, much to the fly’s dismay. The fly would constantly stop and try to pull the little guy off.
Afterwards, we released the fly and his hitchhiker out in the garden. Thanks again.
Signature: Heather
Phoresy: Pseudoscorpion and House Fly
Hi Heather,
Thanks for the compliment. This phenomenon of hitchhiking is called Phoresy and Pseudoscorpions are quite good at it.
Phoresy: Pseudoscorpion and House Fly
Male and Female Horse Flies Feeding on Parsley
Location: Clarksburg, MA
August 18, 2011 10:04 am
Hello, saw your recent horse fly post and thought this might be a nice follow-up. I’m not sure of the species, but the images show a male and a female horse fly feeding on the flowers of parsley. The side view image is of a female. I can say both males and females have been coming around to my parsley the past few years, and pretty much have ignored me and my dog with the exception of one female, who I must have annoyed, after a particularly long photo session, because at the very end she bit my hand. (Picture of my resulting Stay Puft Marshmallow hand not included.)
Signature: Michael Marlow
Horse Fly
Hi Michael,
Thank you so much for sending these awesome images for a wonderfully informative posting. Most of the Horse Fly images we receive are the genus Tabanus, however, your flies appear to be Hybomitra cincta, which we identified on BugGuide. Of the genus, BugGuide indicates: “The 55 species are mostly northern, Canada and Alaska; being replaced in the remaining USA by Tabanus.”
Eyes of female Horse Fly
Your close up photos beautifully illustrate how the eyes of the female, the blood sucker, have a space between them, while the eyes of the male, who feeds exclusively on nectar, have no spacing between them.
Eyes of a Male Horse Fly
1
Picture I took – I swear on a stack of bug books
Location: Scott Lane, Sandown, NH
August 17, 2011 1:43 pm
Good afternoon
I know this is a 3 spot horse fly but thought other people might enjoy seeing it as well.
Signature: Bev Manning
Horse Fly
Hi Bev,
We looked on BugGuide for photos of a Three Spot Horse Fly, and we could not find anything with that common name, however, it is logical that Tabanus trimaculatus could have that common name, as indicated in this BugGuide posting. It is difficult to tell from your photo if your fly matches the pinned specimen on World Field Guide. In a more practical vein, most people who encounter Horse Flies might be more concerned if the fly was a male or female since only the females are blood sucking biters. Males feed on nectar, though we have read that females will also feed on nectar. The eyes are the best way to quickly distinguish males from females, but alas, your lateral view does not illustrate the spacing between the eyes. Your Horse Flies presence on a blossom would make us speculate that it is more likely a male than a female, but we cannot be certain.
Three Spot Horse Fly
Closest I got to the top of this fly. Thanks very much for the reply
Beverly Manning
Hi again Beverly,
We can’t really disagree about this being Tabanus trimaculatus, and this new view shows clearly she is a female because the space between the eyes is evident.
Yay – thank you. Your time is very much appreciated.
Bev Manning
1
Jumping spider with black soldier fly
Location: Tennessee, suburb east of Nashville
August 13, 2011 9:03 am
Hello!
I recently used your site to identify the large harmless insects and their grubs that we’ve been seeing in the house the last few years (ever since I unsuccessfully tried to start composting) as Black Soldier Flies (who, of course, think the compost box is quite nice!) I thought you might enjoy this picture I took last summer of a jumping spider carrying a Black Soldier Fly. If a spider could look proud, then this one certainly would…
Signature: Andrea
Jumping Spider eats Soldier Fly
Hi Andrea,
Thanks for sending us your photo of a Jumping Spider eating a Black Soldier Fly. You have got to be our last identification this morning, and if we post anything else in the next few hours, we are obviously procrastinating something else that we need to get done.
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