2014 March 4

   Gordon Hart writes:  I was at home today and saw lots of activity on the heather and other early blooms. I saw at least three species of bumblebee, plus many flies. I have attached a picture of a small moth with yellowish hindwings that we see every year in spring- like a miniature butterfly. Also attached are pictures of two flies.

  Jeremy Tatum comments:  The moth is Epirrhoe plebeculata, one of the early spring geometrids that often flies at the same time as Mesoleuca gratulata.  I have been trying for years to find the caterpillar.  It is said to feed on Galium, like other members of its genus, but I have usually seen the moth flying in areas where there is no sign of any species of Galium, and I suspect the caterpillar may have some other foodplant. 

  Anyone who rears caterpillars will recognize the large bristly fly as a species of tachinid.  These are flies whose maggots are internal parasitoids of insect larvae, including butterfly and moth caterpillars.  I don’t know the smaller fly; it may be a small syrphid, but I’m not sure.

Tachinid fly (Dip.: Tachinidae) Gordon Hart

Unknown fly   Gordon Hart