Test of the flies!!.who can find the..

[Ted]

Here are a few of my fly species..including cave dwelling, robber, and hover flies..as well as many others.
there's even a giant robber fly..the largest i have ever collected..at almost three inches.
when i caught it, it was eating a large bumble bee.
sorry for the poor photos..but my digital sucks.

there is one specie of fly here that has clear rectangular ''window panes'' in its abdomen!!..you can see all the way through the windows with no problem!
[first pic..second row, third fly down.]

but!! there is bumble bee amongst the group...who will be the first to find it?

 

[ZooRex]

The bee is in the top left corner of the first pic. ~ Rex

 

[Ted]

The bee is in the top left corner of the first pic. ~ Rex

lol.
ok..this may have been too easy.
did you locate it by wing count?

 

[funnylori]

I found it by wing count... Too easy. Neat collection though.

 

[Ted]

I found it by wing count... Too easy. Neat collection though.

ha..thanks.
its nice to know that there are others who pay attention to these things.
the robber fly/bee mimics are quite cool!

do you have them in your area?

how about the ones with the see through windows in the abdomen?

i still dont know what the purpose of them are..any ideas?

 

[funnylori]

We do have bee/fly mimics here. They are really cool, I usually can tell the difference in the way they sound when they fly.

I don't know if we have the window equiped ones though. They are very interesting though. I'll have to look them up. Maybe it is to attract a mate? The one with the best interior design wins?

 

[Ted]

We do have bee/fly mimics here. They are really cool, I usually can tell the difference in the way they sound when they fly.

I don't know if we have the window equiped ones though. They are very interesting though. I'll have to look them up. Maybe it is to attract a mate? The one with the best interior design wins?

clever!

I havent been able to find much literature on this particular species..but I'm sure it's a mating thing.
I've only found two of these, and both times they flew in my house!
I have never found one while vapor light collecting.

 

[funnylori]

That's interesting. Do they fly in at night or in the day? I wonder if a baited trap would work better?

It has some interesting legs too. I wonder if those are it's antenne that I see or mouth parts? If it's mouthparts maybe it feeds on blood or carrion.

 

[thedude]

dude nice collection! lol the best thing fly wise i have is one of the bee mimicing robber flies lol. where did you get that giant robber fly?? is it US or exotic?

 

[Ted]

That's interesting. Do they fly in at night or in the day? I wonder if a baited trap would work better?

It has some interesting legs too. I wonder if those are it's antenne that I see or mouth parts? If it's mouthparts maybe it feeds on blood or carrion.

its been a while since i caught them...am thinking it was night time.
I am not sure about a bait trap..but it certainly cant hurt.
i am surprised that i have only found two, amongst the several thousand of insects in my collection.

oh!..and as far as what you are seeing, those are only antennae..not very properly positioned for an insect mount.

 

[Ted]

dude nice collection! lol the best thing fly wise i have is one of the bee mimicing robber flies lol. where did you get that giant robber fly?? is it US or exotic?

thanks!
no..i caught that giant robber fly in Jacksboro Tx..an hour or so from here, semi westward.

it's easily as long as my cicada killer wasps, and easily dwarfs any other fly species i have.
admittedly..i have only found one of these giants..so i'm thinking they must be somewhat uncommon.

 

[Ted]

i tihnk the most creepy ones i have are the large cave flies.
they are orangish, bulbous in build ,and hairy..and move very slowly.
caught them in some remote desert caves in pitch black.

 

[thedude]

thanks!
no..i caught that giant robber fly in Jacksboro Tx..an hour or so from here, semi westward.

it's easily as long as my cicada killer wasps, and easily dwarfs any other fly species i have.
admittedly..i have only found one of these giants..so i'm thinking they must be somewhat uncommon.

wow.. thats big, if i had my cam id go take a pic of my giant robber fly from VA it's about 2" or so long but hey, thats as big as it gets on the east coast.. fly wise ne way. and for some reason i didnt think they had cicada killers out west lol.. i guess i got in that mind set after collecting them so much here and then going out your way and idnt see any lol

 

[Ted]

wow.. thats big, if i had my cam id go take a pic of my giant robber fly from VA it's about 2" or so long but hey, thats as big as it gets on the east coast.. fly wise ne way. and for some reason i didnt think they had cicada killers out west lol.. i guess i got in that mind set after collecting them so much here and then going out your way and idnt see any lol

wow!..2'' is nothing to sneeze at!:clap:


we have tons of cicada killers..i think 3'' is average size.
i would love to see your pics..its great to see specimens for out of state.

 

[thedude]

tomarow is when i should have my camera up and running again lol.. the stupid batteries went dead on me

 

[Ted]

tomarow is when i should have my camera up and running again lol.. the stupid batteries went dead on me

lmao..my life story.

cant wait to see them.
i need a better camera..mine is digital, and does not interpolate film well.

 

[funnylori]

I just got a nice digital SLR. I don't think I can ever go back... Being able to control everything and swap out lenses for different effects has really expanded my abilites.

 

[Ted]

I just got a nice digital SLR. I don't think I can ever go back... Being able to control everything and swap out lenses for different effects has really expanded my abilites.

can you expand upon that? what is an SLR?
sounds super cool..but i sadly dont know much about cameras..and wasnt aware of any nice digital cams...all mine have not taken good pics.

 

[funnylori]

Sure, an SLR is a single lense reflex camera. Basically it uses mirrors so you look through the viewfinder and see the same thing the lens sees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single_lens_reflex_cameras

 

[Ted]

Sure, an SLR is a single lense reflex camera. Basically it uses mirrors so you look through the viewfinder and see the same thing the lens sees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single_lens_reflex_cameras

wow!!!
i might need to look into one of those!
i can never get nice macro shots!