What is this tiny golden fly? (?)

14 years ago

Are they pests or beneficials or just on a stopover to some place else? I saw a total of about six of them. Their gold color (not red as it appears in the first picture) is beautiful and metallic, their wings filmy.

On a pepper plant:

On a tomato plant:

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Comments (6)

bella_trix
14 years ago
Long-legged fly!! It's a good bug, don't kill it!!! They love aphids and white flies. I love watching one run by with a white fly in its mouth.

Your pictures are a little blurry, but I'm still pretty positive that's what you have. Here's a picture of mine, check and see if it looks like yours:

{{gwi:52157}}

Bellatrix
anney
Original Author
14 years ago
Bellatrix

Thanks! Though I didn't see red eyes, you may be right. The two pepper plants out there have had aphids, which I've been spraying off with water, and as you know that never gets rid of all of them! And no, I never kill insects unless I know what they are and they're real pests.

I'm going to (gently) capture one when they return so I can get a closer look. Red eyes ought to cinch it! They're so small and do dart away if you get close that I had a hard time even getting them in the viewfinder.

This photo of the long-legged fly sure looks a lot like my first photo, doesn't it? But it wasn't so red in the sunlight -- it was the color of gold.
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tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
Wow...that's a cool lookin bug ya got there. :)
bella_trix
14 years ago
I don't think they always show the red eyes, if I remember correctly, it's something to do with the light refraction. They are usually metallic gold or green in body color. Mine are not out yet this year.

Getting a picture of them is almost impossible! I have about 100 pictures of leaves for the one picture I posted above.

Bellatrix
tcvenkats
6 years ago
I found this gold bodied small size fly in my garden on a leaf of water apple plant.
HU-731695044
last year
I also found golden flies on my not very healthy bushes, what are they

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What is this tiny golden fly? (?)

Comments (6)

bella_trix

anney
Original Author

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What is this tiny golden fly? (?)

Comments (6)

bella_trix

anneyOriginal Author

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tn_veggie_gardner

bella_trix

tcvenkats

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anney
Original Author