Flies, Frogs, and Flowers

.

A collection of "F's" for your enjoyment.
Click on the photographs for details.

Fruit Fly (Delphina picta)
Picture-winged Fly

Closely resembles the Picture-winged Fly (Tritoxa sp.) posted by Marvin(click here) a while back.
The Delphina is recognized by the 2 white triangles on the leading edge of the mostly black wing as opposed to the white stripes for Tritoxa.

These is a great group of flies - the Fruit Fly family (Tephritidae)

.........................................

Tachnid Fly
Trichopoda sp.

The larvae of the Tachnid are parasitic on other insects and caterpillars.

.........................................

Mallophora sp. (probably orcina)
Robber fly (Southern Bee Killer)

This robber fly feeds almost exclusively on bees and wasps.

..........................................

Frog
Come on in, the slime is fine.
Free beauty treatment mud pack.

.............................................

Flowers make a fine "F"

Partridge Pea ( Cassia fasciculata)
Notice the very cool stigma

This is an interesting 5 petal flower. The upper 3 petals are red-spotted at the base. the lower 2 petals are cupped. The flowers are borne on a short cluster, but only one opens at the time. Notice yesterday's flower above is closed. The leaves are divided into 8-15 opposite pair leaflets. The foliage is partially sensitive and partially closes when stroked.

Notice the small orange gland at the base of the leaf. This produces nectar which the ants use as a food source. Notice the small ant on the way up to collect dinner (or a snack).

..............................................


Fireweed
Near the Arctic circle


..............................................


Foxglove
Photographed on the side of a cliff,
overlooking the Pacific Ocean

..............................................


Click on the photographs for details.

I hope you enjoyed the "F" post today.
Leave a comment.
Vote for your favorite so that we will know what you like to see.

Troy and Martha

ABC Wednesday Round 3 is here.
.

Robber Fly

While I was organizing files last night, I ran across a photo from the Ft. Worth Botanical Garden. My grand-daughter called it a bearded bee. In reality it is a Laphria sp. Robber Fly. They are mostly beneficial insects but do prey on some honeybees. The robber flies are of the Order Diptera (flies). The Robber Fly Family is Asilidae and species identification is difficult at best. There are ~900 North American species and over 7000 species world-wide.

It reminded me of a blog by Doctor H P Flowers "... Sweet Home". In which he says “Every bug needs a leaf to call home”.
http://doctorflowers.typepad.com/doctorflowers/2008/02/sweet-home.html

Do you think the above robber fly feels at home on his hairy grass stem?

Probably what most people think of as a robber fly or what we see most commonly here in Ft. Worth is Efferia sp.

And another colorful robber fly, possibly Diogmites sp. doing what robber flies do.

The photo organization that I was working on last night when I ran across the Robber Fly is an impossible task.

I wish caffeine wasn't so hard on my heart. I could have really used some last night and even now.

I am in the middle of reorganizing my photos. 5 hard drives, 3 external drives, and a multitude of cd's and dvd's. I don't even want to think about the negative/print scanner (which was a gift from Christmas-before-last) waiting to receive the dozens of boxes and file cabinets full of prints, slides and negatives that I have accumulated for over 40 years.

One of my main projects this winter has been backing up, sorting, and thoroughly viewing the 18,000 digital photos from our trip through the Western US (16 states), Canada (4 provinces), and Alaska. I had always wanted to drive the Alaska Highway, but little did I realize that we would be gone so long (16 weeks and 18,000 miles round trip). It was a great trip, but more on that later.

Troy