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| Airplane plant blossom |
I noticed a tiny dark fly hovering around the blossoms of Barb's airplane plant, Chlorophytum comosum, on our porch. It was patient with my camera and I was able to get within five inches to photograph it. It was obviously a syrphid fly (hover fly, aka flower fly) but with 6000 species and 200 genera, I didn't hold much hope that I would be able to identify it, but I sent the picture to INaturalist and got an immediate identification.
This is a syrphid fly or hover fly with no common name, Ocyptamus fuscipennis. They have a characteristic quick hovering flight, scouting out flowers and tend to frequent small blossoms. In addition to its behavior and body shape, my specimen had a distinctive wing pattern and striping of the abdomen.
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| - Susanna H |
Syrphid flies are considered the second most important group of pollinators next to wild bees. The larvae of many species prey on aphids. Keep an eye out for these little guys and gals. You can see their life cycle at this Bugguide link.
If you haven't tried it, checkout INaturalist.org for identification of insects and plants. I tried it with the airplane plant blossom above and it identified it as the number one choice. They will even identify sound files of bird calls!
