This tiny (4mm) metallic blue fly, Condylostylus mundus, is a member of the 1,275 species family Dolichopodidae and is a valuable predator in any garden. They eat great quantities of mites and aphids. This one, blue, is a male....the females are metallic green.
I believe this to be a female....but the genus Condylostylus has 40 species in North America, so I could be mistaken.
The wings are hyaline and without pattern and the legs are all black. They have a domestic range from Florida north to North Carolina and are also found in the West Indies and Brazil.
Amazing details in those flies.
ReplyDeleteObserved both males and females on leaves of my Key Lime tree. Saw them two days in a row. Probably feeding on mites that are abundant in and around a large pot of growing tomatoes.
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