rss Yellow spotted fly
Location: Biggsville, Il.
June 9, 2011 10:06 am
Yesterday I saw what I believe to be a fly in the shade garden. It had one bright yellow spot on it.
Signature: Randy
Golden Backed Snipe Fly
Hi Randy,
Each June we get several identification requests for Golden Backed Snipe Flies from the northern states in the midwest.
Fly-like insect with black lacy wings&gold head or throat
Location: western Pennsylvania (Armstrong County)
May 29, 2011 11:41 pm
I have a photo of 2 insects copulating (at least ( believe that’s what they were doing) in the grass at Crooked Creek Lake/Dam/Park in Armstrong County in western Pennsylvania. I cannot find them in 2 insect books I have and have posted the photo on an About.com Insect forum. I have watched dragonflies and damselflies, and other insects while birding but have never seen this particular insect.
Signature: Thanks from a birder/nature lover
Mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies
Dear birder/nature lover,
Despite the blurriness of your image, these are unmistakably Golden Backed Snipe Flies, Chrysopilus thoracicus, and they are in fact “In Flagrante Delicto”. They were our Bug of the Month in June 2009. They fly in late spring.
Thank you, thank you, Daniel (Bugman extraordinaire). I have become almost as interested in insects as I was in birds and critters. I appreciate your ability to identify the flies in my poor “but idable” photo. I have photos of other insects I was able to id such as the 6-spotted Tiger Beetle some people misrepresent as the deadly Ash Borer and once while birding up near Punxatawney, PA on the Shadow Mahoning Trail a few of us were awed while watching a Giant Ichneumon Wasp fly around us (looking for a log to lay her eggs on no doubt) and none of us had a camera!!!
Marge from Armstrong County, Pa’
Is this a horse Fly?
Location: Roxboro, NC
May 16, 2011 2:09 pm
This bug was flittering with some northern cloudywing butterflys. they were chasing it away from the flowers. I thought it was a small butterfly but looking at the pictures later I decided it might be a Hoarse Fly but can’t find one with the bright yellow eyes. I live in Northern North Carolina. It was sighted on May 16 in the morning in my rural flower garden near a stream, woods and a meadow.
Signature: Thanks, J Armacost
Golden Backed Snipe Fly
Dear J,
This is a Golden Backed Snipe Fly, Chrysopilus thoracicus, and each spring, we receive several new images for our archive. According to BugGuide: “Adults are alleged to be predatory on other insects, but they may feed little (observations by BugGuide members).” Additionally, bugGuide indicates that the details of the life cycle are unknown.
Horse Fly-esque?
May 30, 2010
I saw this thing back in our woods this morning crawling in the dirt. I went back in the afternoon with a camera and saw it siiting on this leaf. Got one photo before it flew. Searched and liken it to a horsefly, but have not seen any photos with the same color patterns. So, horse fly?
Tym!
NE Ohio
Golden Backed Snipe Fly
Hi Tym,
This is a beautiful image of a Golden Backed Snipe Fly.
sackens bee robber?
May 23, 2010
around beehives, 5/8th of an inch
Andrea
southern ohio
Mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies
Dear Andrea,
This is a gorgeous photo of mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies, Chrysopilus thoracicus.Golden Backed Snipe Flies were not in my Field Guide of Insects & Spiders , Closest picture I found was of the Sacken’s Bee Hunter.
This morning there were probably 30 flying about, I was hoping they were not honey bee predators since they were all in the general area of a hive & I have never noticed this insect before the hive was installed
I can research now that I know what they are
Thanks!
Andrea
Gold Dot Black Fly
May 19, 2010
Gold Dot Black Fly
Found several of these on a deck. Early Morning in East Tn, Oak Ridge. May 19, 2010. What are they?
Curious in O R
Oak Ridge Tn
Golden Backed Snipe Fly
Dear Curious,
This distinctive fly is a Golden Backed Snipe Fly, Chrysopilus thoracicus, and it ranges throughout the eastern portions of North America. According to BugGuide, the details of its life cycle are: “unknown. This fly is observed in early to mid-spring perched quietly on low vegetation in deciduous woodlands.“
Daughter’s First Pet
May 1, 2010
Please answer soon! This is my 5 year-old’s beloved first pet, “Fly-ey.” It goes with her everywhere! What kind is it and how should we care for it? What is its life expectancy? Can you think of any other critter that would be compatible as a friend? Thanks!
Erin Hobbs
Alpharetta, GA
Long Legged Fly
Daughter’s First Pet
May 3, 2010
I sent an email a couple days ago about my 5 year-old’s pet fly. Unfortunately, Fly-ey passed away Monday morning. Many tears were shed, but I hope the love of science continues.
Erin Hobbs
Alpharetta, GA
Hi Erin,
You have our condolences. We are also sorry we did not write back sooner, but it is impossible for our tiny staff to handle all the mail we receive. It appears that your daughter’s pet was a Long Legged Fly in the family Dolichopodidae, and there are many images on BugGuide. Since they are predatory, you might have had a hard time feeding this pet.
Correction thanks to Eric Eaton
May 7, 2010
Hi, Daniel:
Saw the note about Mother’s Day, and am delighted you are taking the well-deserved time off! Congrats on the book, too. Let me know when it comes out and I’ll blog about it….
Meanwhile, the “longlegged fly” posted May 1 is actually some type of snipe fly, family Rhagionidae. Easy to get the two confused.
Eric
Another Pair of Golden Backed Snipe Flies Mating
Golden Backed Snipe Flies Mating
Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Leaving the house today, these two bugs were on my porch cushion. They were there for almost 1/2hour. They even gave me time to go get my camera , focus a few shots and get this great one! I emailed the pics to a friend as the “gold button” on the flies is truly a gold color- unlike the yellow color that comes off in the picture. The gold is what really attracted me to examine them closely. So, this evening, further intrigued, I hit the internet only to find your site within seconds, identifying the flies with ease, yelling to my husband, “THEY ARE GOLDEN BACKED SNIPE FLIES!!!” Gotta love the web!
A. Shafer
ExtremeNW NJ
Golden Backed Snipe Flies Mating
Dear A.,
Thanks for sending in your photo of Golden Backed Snipe Flies mating. We will be adding your letter to the Bug of the Month posting since your photo is so much sharper than the original one we posted.
Golden Backed Snipe Flies Mating
Fri, May 29, 2009 at 5:33 AM
Good morning.
As I was walking from my car about 8am this morning, I chanced upon two bugs mating in the parking lot. They would hop a few feet away each time I got close but firmly refused to go get a room.
Thanks to your site, I was able to learn that the romantic couple is a pair of Golden Backed Snipe Flies. The gold on their backs is quite attractive!
Sorry for the quality of the photo. All I had was my cell phone.
Thank you for this site. It is great when we have a Cool Bug Alert and need to identify what the cool bug is. (In our family, we yell “Cool Bug Alert” and all come running to look. We then look up the bug and learn about them.)
Steph S.
Fairfax, VA
Golden Backed Snipe Flies Mating
Dear Steph,
Thanks so much for your kind letter. We would love to hear that more people are using the Cool Bug Alert, since most alerts tend to have such a negative connotation in our modern world that is so full of the threat of terrorist attacks, abductions and contagious diseases. We are also quite happy to post your image of mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies. Since June is upon us, and it will be time to select a new Bug of the Month, we would like to select the Golden Backed Snipe Fly, Chrysopilus thoracicus, for the honor. According to BugGuide, the season for sightings is spring, more specifically “Spring. April-May (North Carolina)” though all of the submissions to our site have been from late May through June in more Northern locations. The May/June sighting calendar is also supported on BugGuide’s Data Page. We witnessed our own first sighting several years ago in Mill Creek Park in Youngstown Ohio in early June. BugGuide also indicates: “Life Cycle Details unknown. This fly is observed in early to mid-spring perched quietly on low vegetation in deciduous woodlands. “
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