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Picture-winged Fly

Delphinia picta

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41.9172, -87.6327

Field Notes

Notes:

I think this is some kind of flying ant, anyone have an ID? As you can see by the size of the hairs on the plant leaves, this insect was pretty small. Maybe a centimeter wingtip to wingtip. Unfortunately I had the F-stop set wrong and couldn't get a good shot of his head. But his wings are certainly interesting!

Ah ha! He's a signal fly; specifically a picture-winged fly. Nice name... for a fly! :) (http://www.cirrusimage.com/flies_signal.htm)

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

Gordon, thanks! I didn't see him on that page, but a little Google-magic led me to http://www.cirrusimage.com/flies_signal.htm, where I saw him as a Picture-winged fly.
I think this is a signal fly (family: Platystomatidae), not an ant. See http://bugguide.net/node/view/98/bgimage?from=0 and search forward to see if you can narrow your ID down.
Photographed
PublishedMay 29, 2011

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