English: DID YOU KNOW!!!

Long-legged flies species (Dolichopus spp.) in the Galveston-Houston region are slender and often beautifully colored with green, blue, metallic gold or silver. Some look almost like flying jewelry! You may have the urge to chase a “fly” away naturally. But this little guy is not your average fly, he is beneficial and you want to keep him around. I found that he is a rather friendly little guy. Unlike a lot of other insects that run away this little guy is not too easily shaken from the area he is choosing to hang out in.

Getting To Know Him His size ranges from 1-9 mm in length. And as you can see he has nice long legs and a slender build. Most of the species are a metallic green and blue or a metallic green and bronze. Some may be a yellow that is non-metallic as well. There is over 6500 described species and 200 genera of this little guy and he is found in all zoogeographic regions. Here in the United States there is about 1300 species and 57 genera. The larvae is white and looks a lot like a maggot. Its front end is creeping and it’s back end is truncated. The pupae has a long pair of dorsal prothoracic respiratory horns and a pair of frontofacial sutures. When the final instar spins a cocoon it incapsulates soil particles and pieces of debris from the earth into it’s little package. You have to wonder what the does by design. Nature is so amazing!

Habitat Typically the long legged fly is found in wet areas. If you live round the river, you would find them here. Many species like to be under trees and other vertical surfaces. The larvae of course will be in soil that is moist, leafs, moss, mud, under bark, tree hole debris plant tissue, decaying seaweed, sap wounds ad algal mats. And then there are the species that we find ourselves most familiar with, the little guy that likes a drier climate and grasslands or urban gardens. These little guys react very quickly to environmental change, therefore making them a useful tool for site quality assessment in the field of conservation and planning and development.

What Does He Eat? The long legged fly eats soft-bodied invertebrates. Adult flies are predaceous on small mites , Aphids and flea hoppers, booklice, thrips, flies, silverfish, small caterpillars and other insects. You really want to have this little guy in your yard and in your garden. He is a very beneficial little guy.

He will eat nectar from flowers of needed for a carbohydrate source. So remember to have a source of small flowers close by for all of your beneficials!