CLOSED: Funky Fly?

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melody Benton, KY(Zone 7a) Jun 06, 2007

From the looks of the eyes, this is some sort of fly, I think.

It visited my oregano today....which is just starting to bloom, and is an absolute bug magnet.

It looked to be searching for nectar as opposed to searching for prey.

Thumbnail by melody
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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jun 06, 2007

Any insect with two wings is a fly, strictly speaking. That's a neat looking fly too, and there's a good chance of finding its ID because it's so different.

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jun 06, 2007

Well here, look at this genus, Trichopoda

http://bugguide.net/node/view/77316

Oop, this is the genus page. He's on our side! The larvae eat Stink Bugs and Leaf Bugs.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/2798

This message was edited Jun 6, 2007 4:57 PM

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melody Benton, KY(Zone 7a) Jun 06, 2007

Was just going to ask if you had a genus that you could point me in....

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jun 06, 2007

It was easy fly to find, I just typed 'orange fly' in the search field and its picture came up. Most flies are too hard to even try to ID, to me anyway.

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melody Benton, KY(Zone 7a) Jun 06, 2007

Got it!

Trichopoda pennipes... a female

A type of Tachinidae...which makes sense...got several species of them visiting the oregano right now...

For those following...this is a Good Guy Bug....the female lays her eggs in the dasterdly squash bugs and stink bugs...Yaaay! She's welcome here!



edited to add, I didn't know that you could search with such general terms as 'orange fly'...I learned something.

This message was edited Jun 6, 2007 4:40 PM

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kennedyh Churchill, Victoria, Australia(Zone 10a) Jun 06, 2007

Great picture melody. It gives us our first image of a Tachinid Fly, so I have insserted your image into the BugFiles index here: http://davesgarden.com/bf/browse/order.php?bid=62

Ken

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jun 06, 2007

As long as the words are in someone's description, they'll come up in the search. It saves a LOT of time and eyestrain!

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melody Benton, KY(Zone 7a) Jun 06, 2007

Thanks guys....There's another Tachinid that I haven't been quick enough to catch...will make that tomorrow's mission.

Y'all have to get used to putting up with me....just got high speed cable and my router works all the way over at the office. (500 ft) Since we own the place, and there's lots of 'down time' for me, I'll scour the flowerbed over here for new stuff. I haven't had an internet connection at work before....so I'm in heaven.

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