This type of fly on this type of plant

Not an ID

It is so spikey and hairy, it almost makes me think Tachinidae? Does that seem way off?

… John R. Maxwell, 3 December, 2007 - 3:33pm

Yes:-)

It is a "muscoid" of some kind, perhaps one that can't be ID'd even to family from images alone, but it is not a tachinid. Even blow flies are quite spiny, but you have to get really close to one to see it.

… Eric R. Eaton, 3 December, 2007 - 5:11pm

Thanks for both replies

I am glad for any assistance. I have very limited experience and a lot of times things just look "something like" something like a long legged fly which I have seen specimen of. In particular, the long legs, and also the narrowness of the abdomen and deeply indented abdominal segments.

Muscoid - Flesh eating flies? Like horseflies? I see the reddish eyes, the spikes, and the three longitudinal stripes on the thorax (though the stripes are not at all prominent. I'm not sure they are even discernible to the naked eye, to me it all looks dark gray in real life) Just for fun, here is something that looks "something like" this fly, to me. I'm only including it hoping you may point out some differences if you would, to give me an idea of what to be looking at.

… HandsOff, 3 December, 2007 - 6:46pm

Differences

A lot of this stuff is hard to spot and often harder to verbalize. I'll give it a try...

LEGS on yours are hairier. Probably means it catches and eats other insects. They're tapered differently, too.

MOUTH PARTS aren't visible on either, but I'll bet they're different. Anyway, this is a good thing to look at when you're comparing flies.

ANTENNAE are fancier on the other one.

WINGS are shaded on the other one and held differently when fully folded.

HEAD has lots of "hair" behind it on the other one.

BTW, yours doesn't have the flesh fly's three stripes. Such stripes are very obvious - dark and parallel.

Yours was an interesting question. Hope this is of some help.

… Ron Hemberger, 3 December, 2007 - 6:58pm

Great answer, thanks Ron!

The hair is certainly very different, and the wings are different too. The difference that I may have completely overlooked was in the antennas. The shape of the antennas on my fly remind me a little of those of a tachinid fly by the way there is a small proximal part that is capsule shaped (though not quite the kidney bean shape) and then a distal part that is like a thin filament. When I see it next I'll try to get a better head shot, including the mouth parts, and try to get a size as well. Then at least we will have more to go on. BTW, I do have better wings, but those included seem OK to me.

… HandsOff, 4 December, 2007 - 3:31am

Glad that helped.

Wings are fine here. I usually miss the antennae, too!

… Ron Hemberger, 4 December, 2007 - 12:22pm