Moth like insect
September 2, 2009
I found this insect sitting on my wall. It is about 2-3 mm in length. I took my camera and clicked this snap. I am not able to identify this one. Appreciate if you can help me to find this out.
Sanjay
Sunnyvale, California, USA
Dear Sanjay,
This could well be the most detailed image of a Bathroom Fly, Clogmia albipunctata, we have ever received. According to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin: “The Bathroom Fly is often noticed indoors in damp areas – on the walls of bathrooms, showers, lavatories, and washrooms. The brown worm-like larva develops in the sludgy organic muck that accumulates outdoors in shallow pools and tree holes and, under artificial conditions, in sink traps, drains, and dead-flow areas in the household plumbing.” Your observation that this is a Moth like insect is right on since the family Psychodidae, is know as the Moth Flies.
Thanks so much Daniel. The information was helpful. I do photography as my hobby and just love macro photography. Will definitely use your website for any bug identification. Your site is of great help.
-Sanjay
I originally came to this website to identify the bathroom fly, but the info was already there. What i want to know is do they lay eggs on piping hot food because several times I’ve had to fight one away from a plate of very hot food. They woud be very close or even on the food even though it was very hot. So i was wondering what attracted them so much to extremely hot food. Do they want the food or are the trying to lay eggs.
We don’t know. This seems odd.