A while ago I looked into a bucket of water that was in my garden and found a fly. It looks like no other fly I have ever seen. I once studied entomology among other things, and I tend to notice insects.
This fly was dead, so I pulled it out of the bucket and took some photos (as you do).
It looks similar to a hover fly, but with weird white stuff and shiny parts. The underside is kind of green. At first I thought perhaps it was a hover fly and the white stuff was a parasite or something stuck onto the fly. After closer inspection it appears that the white stuff is just part of the fly.
If anyone knows what this is I would love to learn more.
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| Mystery fly |
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| Green underneath the fly |
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| Green underneath |
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| Shiny back |
The white stuff looks to me like a parasitic fungus. There are many of them that infect insects and eventually kill them.
ReplyDeleteIt looks a bit like a phorid fly, but one that has swollen up from soaking in the water.
ReplyDeleteOh.. that is interesting. I searched for "fluffy white fly" and found this.
ReplyDeleteEntomophthora muscae
It is a fungus and I think it looks like your fly had it!
I looked up some google images of Entomophthora muscae, and it does look very similar. I will do some reading, but I think you may have solved my mystery!
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