flies

There are only about 320,000 known species of Diptera and Hymenoptera and I don't expect all of them live in Chiang Mai so it shouldn't take me long to photograph the local population ....


togetherness ... Diptera: Bibionidae (in the UK called St. Mark's flies)	Diptera: Asilidae (robber fly); Clephydroneura Becker		a bee attracted to a light

Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae		Diptera: Tachinidae (parasitic fly) s t r e t c h i n g	Hymenoptera: Vespoidea (?)

Diptera: Tachinidae (parasitic fly)	Diptera: Calliphoridae	Diptera: Tachinidae (parasitic fly)	Diptera: Tachinidae (parasitic fly)

Diptera: Bombyliidae (bee fly)	Diptera: Tachinidae (parasitic fly)		Diptera: Callaphoridae

Diptera: Micropezidae (stilt-legged fly)	Diptera: Tipulidae (crane fly)	Diptera: Tipulidae (crane fly)	Diptera: Micropezidae (stilt-legged fly)

Diptera: Dolichopodidae. Only a video camera can capture the spectacular landings and take-offs of this fly		Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae	Diptera: Callaphoridae or Muscidae, I presume

Diptera: Asilidae (robber fly) Clephydroneura Becker	Diptera: Rhagionidae (snipe fly)	a fly (identified by myself) Lauxaniidae, Homoneura sp.	Diptera: Tachinidae (parasitic fly) or Callaphoridae

Hymenoptera: Vespidae Polistinae		Vespidae Polistinae Polistes sp?	another acrobatic little green fly (Dolichopodidae)

these two seem to co-exist happily (Robber fly with friend)	Robber fly portrait	The sort of insect people who hate insects have nightmares about. What handsome beasts ! and, guess what, they're Robber flies,males, tribe asilini, probably genus Asilus but different species

a selection of some of the flying things that visit our house at night: far left Chironomidae, middle two Hymenoptera, far right Culicidae

a nest of sweat bees (not sure whether the name means they are attracted to sweat or that they suffer from b.o.)			a bee on a yellow flower. I identified this one myself

Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae	a long-legged fly	female deerfly (Chrysops)	Culicidae (mosquitoes): elephant mosquitoe of Genus Toxorhynchites. The adults feed on plant juices and nectar, never on blood some amazing mosquito facts !

a Carpenter bee (recently deceased)- that's how I like them:nice and still		a pair of mating something or others [actually crane flies (Tipulidae)]	male deerfly (Chrysops)

a fly flying (Asarkina porcina)	a fly not flying	Apidae bee	another carpenter bee

these flies were very co-operative- until the camera fell on them (tephritid fruitflies - Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) sp.). The one on the right possibly Bactrocera (Bactrocera) sp.		Robber fly: mating or cannibalism on the fly? neither-it's probably a male carrying a dead fly of another species to offer a mate as a nuptial gift. (genus Astochia)		two kinds of blue bees are common here- this is a Thyreus sp. or Cuckoo bee

Many thanks to Tony Ball, Greg Ballmer, Jérôme Constant, Katja Hogendoorn, Dick Kaae, Gabor Keresztes, David Lohman, Bert Orr, Adrian Plant, Chris Raper, Jonathan Rodman, Aubrey G. Scarbrough, Chris Shortall, Nikita Vikhrev and Bastiaan Wakkie for the suggestions on identification and other information


I watched these Robber flies take off at speed, grab a smaller fly and return to these plants with them; females of the genus Ommatius -undescribed species		Tephritidae	fly wondering where it's breakfast is

the other blue bee, blue-banded bee (anthophorid bee genus Amegilla) Hear him!

Calliphoridae		Tipulidae

Diptera: Tachinidae (parasitic fly)	Diptera: Asilidae (robber fly) females belonging to the genus Laphria , in the tribe Laphriini		wasp of Family Sphecidae, genus Ammophila, or Thread-waisted wasp

some of the wasps that stung me while I was out looking for moths (Apoidea)		the business end of a wasp	Scoliidae. Hymenoptera

this wasp seems attracted by the sap		Long-legged fly Dolichopodidae species again

Dolichopodidae	Tachinidae		Sphecidae?

Crane fly	Robber fly female, genus Ommatius, undescribed species	Calliphoridae	another Dolichopodidae

This wasp arrived by post from the Issan	Empidoid, probably Hybotidae. under 0.5cm long. Active predators hunting many other insects, mostly other flies.	Hymenoptera?	hornet, popularly known as 'tiger wasp' and responsible for a recent fatality in Northern Thailand

Apoidea Megachilidae (bee)	Tipulidae	Vespoidea Eumenidae Delta sp ?	Diptera Stratiomyidae

fly in the family Tabanidae-either a deer or horse fly		a wet and windy morning on Doi Pui did not deter this pair of Tachinidae

	Syphidae	Mecoptera

Asilidae	Derbidae. Hemiptera	robber fly with damselfly prey- robbery? I call that 1st degree murder	Tipulidae

Syphidae	Micropezidae	Hymenoptera

When there's nothing else to photograph you can usually find an amenable mosquito

Possibly Argidae	Robber fly	Apidae	Vespidae, Polistinae

At 7 a.m. this tree in our garden is full of these bees		Dolichopodidae

Stratiomyiidae (Soldier Flies)	Tipulidae	Dolichopodidae	Stratiomyiidae (Soldier Flies)

Robber fly	Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae	this wasp buried its prey outside the kitchen door (Sphecidae)	Tabanidae

Hymenoptera	Stratiomyidae	Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae	Asilidae

Mecoptera	Stratiomyidae	deer flies

		this wasp makes his nest on shoes, bicycles, anything lying around	waiter! there's a deerfly in my soup!


fly in the family Tabanidae-either a deer or horse fly		a wet and windy morning on Doi Pui did not deter this pair of Tachinidae

Possibly Argidae. Hymenoptera	Robber fly (Asilidae) with prey	another Robber fly with prey (spider?)	Ichneumonidae or possibly Pompilidae (spider-hunting wasp)