Common picture-winged fly
The common picture-winged fly has shiny wings painted with a dark brown pattern on clear glass. Its body is about as long as a grain of rice, with a black tail end and a light brown head. It likes places full of rotting plants.
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Fun facts
When a pair meets, the female gently waves her wings and the male flicks his back.
During courtship one or both flies may blow a little bubble from their mouth.
A female can lay up to 500 eggs in rotting plants.
People sometimes think it is a fruit fly, but it does not eat living plants.
Most asked questions about Common picture-winged fly
?Is the picture-winged fly a pest?
No. It eats rotting plants, not fresh ones, so it does not harm gardens.
?Why is it called picture-winged?
Its clear wings have a dark brown pattern that looks like a painted picture.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Delphinia picta
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Ulidiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Ulidiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Delphinia picta (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Jasper Shide. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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