This page includes many types of flies.
Page 3 of 4

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This teeny-tiny insect is on the petal of a slender dayflower.
[Two photos spliced together. The photo on the right is the entire flower with its blue petals and white stamen with yellow tips. The left photo is a close view of the black insect. It is near the outer left edge of one blue petal. The insect has at least four legs and appears to have clear triangular-shaped wings on its back.]

Female spring fishfly
[With its wings folded on its back, this is a rectangular-shaped critter. Its toothed antenna are slightly longer than its legs. It has relatively large eyes on its purplish-brown head. Its wings are ridges and have shades of yellow amid the purple brown.]

A closer view of the fishfly with its toothed antenna
[A view of the head showing the toothed antenna which have slight hooks at the end. The eyes stick out from the sides of the head. The four front legs are visible and appear to be segmented.]

The underside of what I believe to be a male spring fishfly. Its antennas are comb-like.
[The fishfly is on the outside of a screened window and the camera was on the inside, so there is a screen between the camera and the fly. This photo focuses on the head and upper body which is upside-down as the fly was crawling down the screen. The antennas are long and have comb-like teeth on the inner portions. Two black eyes stick out from the sides of the head.]

The underside of a mayfly with its two long skinny tails
[The mayfly is on the outside of a screened window and the camera was on the inside, so there is a screen between the camera and the fly. The sun was shining brightly so the mayfly appears whiter than it propbably is. Its white feet are concentrated near the head end of the white-tan body. Its body extends well past the feet and the two long skinny tails literally double the length of the insect. It has two wings which appear to be clear except for the front edge which has a white strip on the outermost edge and a black strip beside it.]

This blow fly is quite colorful.
[The fly's six black legs are attached to the end of a thin branch on the left side. The fly has large red eyes and clear wings. The body is an irridescent blue, purple, and green and has several thin black rings around it. The light and photographic detail are such that many small 'hairs' around the front and back ends of the body are visible.]

Blue bottlefly
[The fly stands on a round thick green leaf making its dark legs visible. The fly has large greenish-brown eyes which appear to be half-moon shape rather than round. It seems to have a pointy triangular nose hanging from the bottom of its head. Its wings are clear. The body is an irridescent blue with orange just behind the head.]

Flesh flies have stripes on their bodies.
[Two photos spliced together. The fly stands on a curved brown leaf. On the left it faces the camera head on. Its large red-brown eyes are on the top sides of its head and comprise most of the head. There is a black stripe between the eyes on top and it either splits into an O shape or the mouth opens to the sides. The rest of the head is white. On the left is a top-down view with its large brown-red eyes upward and its clear wings downward. The body has vertical stripes from the eyes to the wings. The stripes alternate black and pale dirty yellow. The all-black legs are spread away from the body in both photos.]

Flesh fly atop a foxtail
[The fly stands on the top of the plant with all the spikes fanning out of the cylinder below it. The light hits the fly such that one one appears white while the other is clear. The think black stripes on the light-colored body are visible as are the brown eyes.]

Robber fly eating a flesh fly.
[The robber fly holds the flesh fly such that the striped back and reddish eyes of the flesh fly are visible. The robber fly has huge emerald-like green eyes and a long cylindrical body. Its shortest legs are nearly twice the length of the flesh fly.]

Although the body shaping and color are similar to a wasp, this is a long-legged fly.
[The fly is perched on a dark green leaf which makes its sparkly-gold body visible. The back section of the body is gold with black stripes similar to the coloring of a bees body. The fly faces away from the camera, so only the tops of its eyes are visible. ]

This long-legged fly is green.
[The fly is perched on a green leaf, but its sparkly-green and black striped body is clearly visible. The fly faces away from the camera, so only the tops of its eyes are visible. ]

Another type of long-legged fly
[The fly is perched on a green leaf. The front section of the body is gold. The back section is greenish-blue with black stripes around the body at regular intervals.The fly's brown eyes are visible on the front of its head. ]

Hoverfly with wings extended
[The fly is perched on a thin green stem. It has two large brown eyes. The middle segment of its body is black. The hind segment is yellow and with a repeating pattern of black stripes and dots. Its wings are clear, but appear to have tinges of pink due to the lighting.]

Hoverfly with wings retracted
[The fly is perched facing to the right on a blade of grass. It has two large brown eyes. The middle segment of its body is dark brown with thin rim of light yellow around it. The back end of the body is covered by the clear wings and is slightly visible through the doubled wing. The wings are atop each other appearing as one wing.]

Mating flies.
[A smaller fly is perched on the back of a slightly larger fly. Both have two large brown eyes and yellow and black striped bodies. The lower fly is standing on a bent blade of grass.]

I believe this is another variation of a hoverfly.
[The fly is perched on a flower with five white petals and a yellow center covering two of the petals and half the center. The fly faces to the left and its clear wings are visible only at the edges which extend beyond the flower.It has two large brown eyes. The middle segment appears to be fuzzy black and white stripes around its body. The back end of the body is similar to the flies above with its yellow and black stripes. ]

Two different bee flies
[A yellow bee with thin black stripes on the back of its body. It's wings are brown and its dark legs are visible as it hangs on the side of a light green plant leaf.] [This is a top-down view of the fly. It has two-toned wings. The portion closest to its body is brown while the rest of the wing is clear. The body of the fly is a fuzzy yellow-orange color with some brown patches in the center. It has large brown eyes at the front of its body. It's perched on a leaf with tears in it.]

The 'face' of a bee fly
[This fly faces the camera so its large brown eyes and what appears to be a long nose section are visible. The body of the fly is a fuzzy yellow-orange color with some brown patches in the center. It's perched on a flower with a yellow center and many short white petals.]

A fly and an ant on some hairy peas
[Two hair pea pods hang from a stem. A fly with its large dark eyes and outstretched wings is atop the one pea. A black and brown ant is crawling midway down the other pea.]

Love bugs (a species of march fly) remain together for a few days even after they have mated. These two are perched on hedge parsley.
[Two photos spliced together. On the left the two bugs create a vee as the both are leaning down opposite sides of the flower blooms. The bugs have red bodies and long black wings. They are joined at their tail ends and are eating from white flowers which are individually smaller than their bodies. The flowers are in bunches at the end of stalks (which is how they grow). On the photo on the right the bugs are in a straight line as one bug eats from one flower bunch and the other is on a different flower bunch. ]

Continue to page 4 of 4 to see cicadas, crickets, and grasshoppers.

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All photos © S. M. Garver

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