The Bois Blanc Island Site

Conis · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:17 am Post subject:

Fireflies:

Last night, around midnight... went out on my porch and noticed few fireflies here and there... looked out across the marsh. Thousands of them like a flickering sea. Took me a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. Must be a bumper fire fly year? More than I ever recall seeing.

I remember as a kid.... capturing fireflies and night and putting them in a mason jar with the notion of making a fire fly lantern. That experiment failed. We would take the "lantern" to some dark place to see if it worked, which it might have for a split second if they all lit up at once... which they didn't.

I am way short of being a fire fly expert. Their flashing is obviously some sort of location communication. In a jar, one would flash and trigger the others. Interesting to watch and and least some knowledge gained.

During one such experiment, we had a couple hundred accumulated over several nights... in a jar, in the basement. The jar slipped from my buddies hands and broke on the floor releasing all into the basement and eventually into the house. Mom was not happy. It would have been handy to have an electric fly swatter, had such a thing been available at the time.
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theeislandgirl · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 12:39 am Post subject: fly

Humm ... Mike did I get that right ??? If there is one fly that flies on one side of the water bag he can not see himself at all or even a larger image of himself ???

I will go back to the store and check it out better how they were able to hang it ... Some one( Sorry I can not remember who) here on this post asked how it was done .. I will find out ...

mikewhite · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:23 am Post subject: Fen Fly

Sometimes I take a picture of something and wait till later to figure out what it is. This fly was on my sleeve while I was in the middle of Sundew Fen. I was taking pictures of the goldenrod growing there.

The fly is quite large, maybe 5/8 inch long. I like to research things and take pride in being able to figure it out. After preliminary searches, I set this one aside for the winter, when I could get really serious in researching. You know, no distractions.

I have now spent a lot of days looking for the name of this fly. At least I'm pretty sure it is a fly because it appears to only have one set of wings. It may very well be in the crane fly genus. There are hundreds of species and sub-species of crane flys. The body shape is that of a crane fly, but the legs are not as long as a crane fly would normally have. Also, I have not run across any crane flies that are hairy like this.

Is it possible that This is a newly discovered species? I would like to think that, but others have probably beat me to that.

Here it is. Maybe someone else can put a name to it or lead use toward that goal. Be warned, it is an ugly thing.

http://www.bois-blanc.com/phpBB2/album_page.php?pic_id=2456
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"The more nature you keep, the more nature you'll enjoy." and "It's not who is right, but what is right."

Troy · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:06 am Post subject:

OMG! Mike that is the dreaded Tachinid Fly! Your lucky that thing didn't bite you, your whole arm may have fallen off.

Seriously though the Tachinid Fly is the closest thing I can find too that and its still not that close. Maybe you have discovered something new.

mikewhite · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:13 pm Post subject: flys

I've got a book, National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects & Spiders, so I looked up tachinid fly. Your right, it's not that close.

I think the robber flies come closer, but they don't have an antenna like my fen fly. Neither one have the neck either. Keep up the suggestions and eventually there will be one species left standing.

Maybe flies can cross breed. This thing looks like a cross between a horse fly and a mosquito.
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mwhite@wildblue.net
"The more nature you keep, the more nature you'll enjoy." and "It's not who is right, but what is right."

Troy · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject: Re: flys

Troy · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:45 pm Post subject:

Mike, I think your right, it does look like a Robber fly. I posted a picture I found. Also known as the Assassin Fly or Bee Killer.

mikewhite · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:08 pm Post subject: Got It

Got it!
I posted the picture on BugGuide.net and within a few hours they figured it out.

It is called a Hunchbacked Bee Fly
Family- Bombyliidae (Bee Flies)
Sub-family- Ecliminae
Genus- Lepidophora
Species- lulea

There is a little concern about which species it is. There are 3 in the US. lulea is a northern species. The southern species is called a Scaly Bee Fly and looks almost identical.
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mwhite@wildblue.net
"The more nature you keep, the more nature you'll enjoy." and "It's not who is right, but what is right."