http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7984143/

aside from the discovery, what is that fly on the flower?

"Mike" wrote in message
news:LQxle.20116$wr.6533@clgrps12...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7984143/

aside from the discovery, what is that fly on the flower?

It's a syrphid fly or hover fly, family Syrphidae.
I don't know what genus and species of syrphid
this one is.

They're well-known as wasp mimics, flower visitors,
and for having larvae that are predators of aphids.

e.g.,
http://www.umaine.edu/umext/cranberr...rphidFlies.htm
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/NE/syrphid_flies.html
http://www.eduwebs.org/bugs/syrphid_flies.htm
http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/syrphid.html

cheers

I would have sworn it was a wasp... how can you tell it's not?

--
Lise

==========================
"mel turner" wrote in message
...
"Mike" wrote in message
news:LQxle.20116$wr.6533@clgrps12...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7984143/

aside from the discovery, what is that fly on the flower?

It's a syrphid fly or hover fly, family Syrphidae.
I don't know what genus and species of syrphid
this one is.

They're well-known as wasp mimics, flower visitors,
and for having larvae that are predators of aphids.

e.g.,
http://www.umaine.edu/umext/cranberr...rphidFlies.htm
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/NE/syrphid_flies.html
http://www.eduwebs.org/bugs/syrphid_flies.htm
http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/syrphid.html

cheers

"Lise" wrote in message
. ..
"mel turner" wrote in message
...
"Mike" wrote in message
news:LQxle.20116$wr.6533@clgrps12...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7984143/

aside from the discovery, what is that fly on the flower?

It's a syrphid fly or hover fly, family Syrphidae.
[snip]

I would have sworn it was a wasp... how can you tell it's not?

They look very different in detail.

In the photo you can clearly see that it has a fly's head, antennae
and mouthparts, all of which are clearly different from a wasp's.

Apart from beelike or wasplike coloration and sometimes behavior,
syrphid flies are rather typical flies in body structure and wings.
Again, the details are very different from those of wasps and bees.

If you had specimens in front of you instead of just a web page
news photo, you'd easily see that the fly has just two functional
wings instead of two pairs of wings as in wasps [the hind pair of
wings in true flies (order Diptera) are represented by small
appendages called halteres (not visible in the photo)], and a
flylike proboscis [visible in the photo] for mouthparts instead
of a wasplike set of biting jaws.

e.g.,
http://www.naturefg.com/pages/c-anim...0germanica.htm
http://www.naturepixel.com/guepe_ves...t24ex_a-89.htm
http://www.bugpeople.org/taxa/Hymeno...espulaPage.htm

vs.

http://www.stetson.edu/~pmay/bugs/syrphid%201.jpg
http://www.gartendatenbank.de/tiere/syrphidae/001.htm
http://bugguide.net/node/view/7903
http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/selhome/gbu/toxomerus.html
http://highplainsipm.org/HpIPMImage/...sm/IMG0091.jpg
http://www.gardensafari.net/english/hoverflies.htm

http://dereila.ca/dereilaimages/bugs2.html
http://www.pbase.com/lejun/bees_and_flys

cheers

u're right. The "proboscis" is clearly visible even for me, but I wasn't
sure I remembered how a wasp "mouth" looks like. I saved the "wild flower"
photo and used the "magnifier", and the wings appear to me to be placed like
those of a fly rather than those of a wasp, and also less elongated.
Besides those, as I'm not a specialist, I would have to do at least some
research before I could tell. But as the photos you pointed to show
clearly, the wasp "face" is much more elongated, as are its wings. It's not
clear the wasp has 2 sets of wings in the photo under the 3rd link though.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge

--
Lise

==========================
"mel turner" wrote in message
...
"Lise" wrote in message
. ..
"mel turner" wrote in message
...
"Mike" wrote in message
news:LQxle.20116$wr.6533@clgrps12...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7984143/

aside from the discovery, what is that fly on the flower?

It's a syrphid fly or hover fly, family Syrphidae.
[snip]

I would have sworn it was a wasp... how can you tell it's not?

They look very different in detail.

In the photo you can clearly see that it has a fly's head, antennae
and mouthparts, all of which are clearly different from a wasp's.

Apart from beelike or wasplike coloration and sometimes behavior,
syrphid flies are rather typical flies in body structure and wings.
Again, the details are very different from those of wasps and bees.

If you had specimens in front of you instead of just a web page
news photo, you'd easily see that the fly has just two functional
wings instead of two pairs of wings as in wasps [the hind pair of
wings in true flies (order Diptera) are represented by small
appendages called halteres (not visible in the photo)], and a
flylike proboscis [visible in the photo] for mouthparts instead
of a wasplike set of biting jaws.

e.g.,
http://www.naturefg.com/pages/c-anim...0germanica.htm
http://www.naturepixel.com/guepe_ves...t24ex_a-89.htm

http://www.bugpeople.org/taxa/Hymeno...nusVespulaPage.
htm

vs.

http://www.stetson.edu/~pmay/bugs/syrphid%201.jpg
http://www.gartendatenbank.de/tiere/syrphidae/001.htm
http://bugguide.net/node/view/7903
http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/selhome/gbu/toxomerus.html
http://highplainsipm.org/HpIPMImage/...sm/IMG0091.jpg
http://www.gardensafari.net/english/hoverflies.htm

http://dereila.ca/dereilaimages/bugs2.html
http://www.pbase.com/lejun/bees_and_flys

cheers

I just watched the beetles slideshow in the "bugpeople" site you pointed.
Are the "Dermestidae" the kind of parasites that will annoy humans?


--
Lise

==========================
"mel turner" wrote in message
...
"Lise" wrote in message
. ..
"mel turner" wrote in message
...
"Mike" wrote in message
news:LQxle.20116$wr.6533@clgrps12...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7984143/

aside from the discovery, what is that fly on the flower?

It's a syrphid fly or hover fly, family Syrphidae.
[snip]

I would have sworn it was a wasp... how can you tell it's not?

They look very different in detail.

In the photo you can clearly see that it has a fly's head, antennae
and mouthparts, all of which are clearly different from a wasp's.

Apart from beelike or wasplike coloration and sometimes behavior,
syrphid flies are rather typical flies in body structure and wings.
Again, the details are very different from those of wasps and bees.

If you had specimens in front of you instead of just a web page
news photo, you'd easily see that the fly has just two functional
wings instead of two pairs of wings as in wasps [the hind pair of
wings in true flies (order Diptera) are represented by small
appendages called halteres (not visible in the photo)], and a
flylike proboscis [visible in the photo] for mouthparts instead
of a wasplike set of biting jaws.

e.g.,
http://www.naturefg.com/pages/c-anim...0germanica.htm
http://www.naturepixel.com/guepe_ves...t24ex_a-89.htm

http://www.bugpeople.org/taxa/Hymeno...nusVespulaPage.
htm

vs.

http://www.stetson.edu/~pmay/bugs/syrphid%201.jpg
http://www.gartendatenbank.de/tiere/syrphidae/001.htm
http://bugguide.net/node/view/7903
http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/selhome/gbu/toxomerus.html
http://highplainsipm.org/HpIPMImage/...sm/IMG0091.jpg
http://www.gardensafari.net/english/hoverflies.htm

http://dereila.ca/dereilaimages/bugs2.html
http://www.pbase.com/lejun/bees_and_flys

cheers

"Lise" wrote in message
...
I just watched the beetles slideshow in the "bugpeople" site you pointed.
Are the "Dermestidae" the kind of parasites that will annoy humans?

As I understand it, dermestids and their larvae are mostly scavengers
on dead, especially dry, animal matter. They aren't parasites as
far as I know, but I suppose they may often live in animal nests and
live on food scraps and loose hair or feathers.

Dermestidae do include some annoying pests like the well-known
"carpet beetle" that attack materials like wool, feathers,
museum specimens including insect collections, etc.

On the other hand, dermestids are useful to museums or others who
need to prepare skeletons of animals for display and study. Dried
partly-defleshed carcasses are sealed in a captive colony of
thousands of dermestid beetles and their larvae, to slowly devour
the remaining meat from the bones and so leave the skeleton more
or less cleaned of flesh in one easy step.

But I suppose this is OT for sci.bio.botany.
There is however sci.bio.entomology.misc, where you might
find answers to any other insect-but-not-plant questions.
[It looks like many of the threads there are "what is this bug?"
type queries]

cheers