Subject: Possible fly species??
Geographic location of the bug: Western Ohio, Youngstown area
Date: 07/05/2019
Time: 08:22 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: We were on a truck delivery when we spotted this little guy on our side mirror. I never saw a bug like it before. He hung around, fended off a normal house fly, and was eating the dried bug guts off the mirror casing. No mandibles, one wing set. He was feisty. Lost him on our way to the next location. Got a good close-up of it eating.
How you want your letter signed: Nadori
Dear Nadori,
Isn’t Youngstown considered eastern Ohio? This looks to us like a Signal Fly, possibly from the genus Rivellia based on this and other BugGuide images. Of the family Platystomatidae BugGuide notes: “Occur mostly in fields, some in woodlands. Adults found on tree trunks and foliage; attracted to flowers, decaying fruit, excrement, sweat, and decomposing snails. Larvae found on fresh and decaying vegetation, carrion, human corpses, and root nodules.”