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Thursday, April 28, 2022

What a fly!

  

Wow, what a fly!  I had to do some work in the dunes today.  As I was walking back I noticed this fly landing on the sand.  Even from a distance the colors looked interesting, so I bent down for a closer look.  Such beautiful metallic purple and copper coloration!  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

I think this is a type of bee fly (Bombyliidae), but I'm not sure which species.  If you have any bee fly contacts that could help with an identification, let me know. 

6 comments:

Alice Chan said...

This critter is GORGEOUS!!!

Jackie Sones said...

Hi, Alice!

Yes! All dressed up for a dune gala! ;)

Jackie

GretchenJoanna said...

It is beautiful indeed. But... Bombycillidae seems to be a bird family. https://www.britannica.com/animal/Bombycillidae

It looks like you meant Bombyliidae, which seems to be yet another not-bee for me to become familiar with, besides hoverflies and mason bees and I don't know what else. Well, maybe mason bees are actually bees, just not honeybees.

The insect world is vast and fascinating! Thank you for sharing all your sightings!!

Jackie Sones said...

Hi!

Good catch! I was just typing along and more often have bird families in my head than bee families. So I corrected the family name in this post to Bombyliidae.

Thanks again!

Jackie

David A Hofmann said...

Hi Jackie,
I have been searching for the possible identification of this insect, and I think that it is Exoprosopa iota.
David

Jackie Sones said...

Hi, David! Thanks very much! I'll check it out! :) Jackie