Fly with red parasites

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Ken Schneider, 13 July, 2010 - 3:52pm

Mites

The mites are larval trombidioids.

… Ray Fisher, 8 July, 2010 - 5:41pm

Thanks...

... for the help with the parasites.

… John Beetham, 10 July, 2010 - 9:47pm

Thanks Ray!

Guilty of tormenting the fly or innocent ride-catchers?

… Ken Schneider, 8 July, 2010 - 5:44pm

Parasites

Trombidioids (velvet mites... the group to which chiggers belong) are beautiful lumbering predators as adults, and parasitic as larvae. Most parasitize arthropods, like this syrphid, and once engorged will drop off and "pupate" into the predator stages.

… Ray Fisher, 10 July, 2010 - 11:30pm

Curious...

How did you know the fly was a syrphid?

… John Beetham, 13 July, 2010 - 5:27pm

Syrphidae

If you look at your cropped image, you can see the closed wing cells, but general gestalt is the best way. I don't know a whole lot of other flies that look anything like that with all closed wing cells, and that are attacked by trombidioids. For some reason, syrphids are very common hosts for velvet mites.

… Ray Fisher, 13 July, 2010 - 9:20pm

Thanks

... for the explanation.

… John Beetham, 13 July, 2010 - 9:55pm

Crop?

If possible, could you please crop this image so that the fly and hangers-on fill most of the frame? It will help our experts see the bugs a lot better... Thanks!

… Ken Schneider, 8 July, 2010 - 4:44pm

Done

I'm not sure how much this will help.

… John Beetham, 8 July, 2010 - 5:30pm

Thanks!

It will help quite a bit - can see the wing venation on the fly much better in the cropped pic, for example. If you don't get a comment here soon, suggest moving to Diptera page for expert attention.

… Ken Schneider, 8 July, 2010 - 5:36pm