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Golden Backed Snipe Fly

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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.“

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Long Legged Fly

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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

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

BUG OF THE MONTH JUNE 2009: Golden Backed Snipe Flies Mating

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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

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

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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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Golden Backed Snipe Fly

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Golden-back Snipe Fly
I saw this fly earlier today. I live in southern Maryland. I only learned the name after searching your site. I thought you might like to add it to your collection. I should put your site as a shortcut on my toolbar because it seems like I go there so often looking for the name of some insect I have never seen before. Its a great site…
Mike Roane

Hi Mike,
We are thrilled to add your Golden Backed Snipe Fly to our archive.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies

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Bug Love Photos
Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? I saw these cute little buggers by our office around 7 a.m. one morning, (Pearl River, NY, right on the NY-NY line about 6 miles west of the Hudson River). I thought they were some kind of fly until l saw the photos of the clearwing moths. However these guys are smaller – maybe 5/8” wingspan. I read on one of the linked bug sites there is a smaller species of clearwings that resemble bumblebees (but no photo). Maybe that’s these guys. Their head and body structure still looks awfully fly-like to me though. Love your site! Nice to know there are other bug-lovers out. What beautiful photos. What beautiful lil’ critters. Best Regards,
Jeanne Guderian

Hi Jeanne,
You are right about them being flies. These are mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies. Your wonderful photo shows the wing veination quite nicely.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Golden Backed Snipe Fly

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I took a picture of this bug in June 2006, I’ve looked and looked but still can’t find what it could be. I live in NW Indiana, which is also where I seen this. I thought it was beautiful but could you help me?
Jessica

Hi Jessica,
This is a Golden Backed Snipe Fly, Chrysopilus thoracicus, and we get most of our photos of this species from the midwest in mid June.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination