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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Orthorrhapha » Asiloidea » Window Flies (Scenopinidae) » Scenopinus » fenestralis species group (Scenopinus fenestralis species group)
Photo#649476
Bird nest fly - Scenopinus
Copyright © 2012 Charley Eiseman

Bird nest fly - Scenopinus
Sunderland, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA
May 30, 2012
Size: 9 mm
When I removed an old phoebe nest this spring, there were several larvae under it that looked like therevids, so I put the nest in a container. Two of these flies have now emerged, along with a dozen or so tineid moths.

Images of this individual: tag all
Bird nest fly - Scenopinus Bird nest fly - Scenopinus Bird nest fly - Scenopinus
Contributed by Charley Eiseman on 30 May, 2012 - 5:06pm
Last updated 14 May, 2014 - 8:15am

Probably Scenopinus fenestralis
Probably Scenopinus fenestralis. The alternative is glabifrons. Both species were imported from Europe.
… John F. Carr, 14 May, 2014 - 8:35am

Moved
Moved from Scenopinus.
… John F. Carr, 14 May, 2014 - 8:15am

Moved
Moved from Flies.
… Martin Hauser, 30 May, 2012 - 6:56pm

Very nice pics!
Very nice pics! And the larvae have the same secondary segmentation as Therevidae. They are considered sister taxa...
… Martin Hauser, 30 May, 2012 - 6:55pm

 
Aha!
I was wondering about Scenopinus, since I found this when I googled "Therevidae + bird nest." So evidently I haven't documented anything new here.
… Charley Eiseman, 30 May, 2012 - 7:18pm

 
They love feeding on beetles
They love feeding on beetles larvae, and they feed on Museums-beetles (Dermestidae) which live of the dead insects in your house, and then the adults show up at the windows (hence the name).. some Scenopinidae larvae live in loose soil and sand dunes very much like Therevidae, and some others live in the tunnels of wood boring beetles and feed on the beetle larvae...
… Martin Hauser, 30 May, 2012 - 7:33pm

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