I found this weird bug or fly...
Charlotte
first I thought it was a regular fly, but when I waved my hand in the
air to make it fly away - it was sitting on some clothes in my closet
- it didn't fly, but just crawled on. I then thought that it was the
heat or whatever, maybe just a lazy fly, but then I realized that it
looked a bit odd.
And now .. sorry for what you are about to read. I presume that you
are insect lovers and believe that they have every right to be here,
as the rest of us. Well, so do I actually, but I just don't like
having them near me or in my closet, on my clothes .. so I took a
newspaper and whacked the fly. It fell onto the floor. And crawled on.
I whacked it again, harder this time. He crawled on.
I now hit it a bit frantically (I was pretty psyched at this point -
I'm the kind of person who screams when there's a spider, so this was
getting a bit too scary for me). No matter how hard, I hit it, it just
kept going. I now placed the paper and PRESSED my hand real hard on
where the fly was. Lifting the paper, just to see it keep crawling. I
did it again, same result. I then stood on the paper, twisting my
heel. Now it finally stopped. Or sort of, it was still twitching a
bit. I managed to scoop it onto a piece of paper and into a glass, so
I could show it to my husband.
Several hours later he returned home and I showed him the bug. And
believe it or not, when he took it from the glass and put it on a
piece of paper - IT WASN'T DEAD YET. One tough bugger.
My husband had never seen something like it before. Me neither. I
photographed it and I have uploaded the picture and I hope that
somebody out there can help us identify this very tough bug.
A few facts: We live in Denmark, and it's high summer here, sporting
temperatures around 25 degrees Celcius. We live on the 4th floor in
central Copenhagen (only a few trees in our yard). The windows have
been open for a few days because of the weather.
The fly (or what it is) had small wings. It was around 10-13 mm long.
It moved more like a spider than a fly - in short bursts of movement.
See the pictures of the bug here:
http://www.finurlig.dk/pics/bug/IMG_2607.JPG
http://www.finurlig.dk/pics/bug/IMG_2608.JPG
http://www.finurlig.dk/pics/bug/IMG_2609.JPG
http://www.finurlig.dk/pics/bug/IMG_2611.JPG
Please bear in mind that I have been standing on the fly at this
point. It might have been less flat before it met me.
I hope someone can help me or maybe tell me who to contact. I was
thinking about an entomology department on a university.
(Please excuse me for any language mistakes. English is not my mother
tongue.)
Best Regards, Charlotte
mmonsa
Looks to me like "Crataerina hirundinis", it's a parasite and this species lives on swallows. So any swallow nests nearby ;-)
Grtz,
Marc
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Charlotte
Thanks a lot. I think you're right - it looks excatly like it and I'm
sure there are swallow's nests around. We can see swallows flying from
our windows. The nests would probably be under the edge of the roof -
two floors up from out flat. Hopefully that means that we won't
encounter these flies again. It freaks me a bit out to read that it
also feeds on humans. My 3 months old baby girl sleeps just next to
the window.
I can see that it's also called a flat fly which is a suitable name,
as it was real flat even before I stood on it.
Thank you for your help.
Best Regards, Charlotte
LaFouine
wrote:
Hi,
Louse flies parasite many species of birds and mamals.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/13382
And, please, don't use Grabit to respond in txt newsgroups.
It's a leeching Software not a posting one.
It doesn't respect the usenet posting standard:
As you can see it signature have not a regular format,
and it will not following a msg if there a FollowTo tag, ect)
@+
kauhl-meersburg
rather have a teeth cleaning cup and a piece of paper at your
disposition to trap any insect comfortably and to throw them out of the
window
it remembers me to those young ladies at the swimming pool who let their
babies alone with an open Cola can
and don't forget wild swallows are also serious transmitters of bird
flu, it easily can happen that your baby wil be hit
cheers kauhl
Charlotte
> flu, it easily can happen that your baby wil be hit
Did you seriously think you would scare me with a remark like that?
Very funny. There is no bird flu problem in Denmark, for your
information - though the Danish Media tried hard to make a mountain
out of a mould a couple of years back.
I'm truly sorry that I annoyed you by telling how I killed a fly.