ornate snipe fly

Ornate snipe fly is an early season, medium-sized, predatory fly. It occurs in the United States from New Hampshire to South Carolina, west to Minnesota and eastern Nebraska, and in southern Quebec and Ontario Canada. Adults are found in May and June in moist woodlands and at forest edges. Larvae are found in rotting wood and in leaf litter.

Adults are black with highly contrasting markings. The female is 9⁄16″ to ⅝″ (14 to 17 mm) in length.

The head is black and more or less rounded. There are two large compound eyes on the side of the head and three small simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangle on top of the head. The compound eyes are hairless and widely separated. The antennae have three segments. The third segment is more or less rounded, is not divided by rings (annulated), and bears a long, slender style (arista) at the end. The arista is distinctly longer than the antenna.

The thorax is mostly covered with appressed, golden scales.

The abdomen is broad, relatively long, tapered on the lower half, pointed at the end. Each abdominal segment is black with a band of appressed golden scales on the rear half. The bands are broken and distinctly interrupted in the middle.

The wings are clear and tinged light tan. The veins are black. The anal cell is longer than the second basal cell and is closed at the wing margin.

The legs are long and slender, stilt-like, and tan to brown. On the hind legs the fourth segment (tibia) has a single spur at the tip. The last part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has two claws and three pads at the tip.

The male is smaller, 7⁄16″ to ½″ (11 to 13 mm) in length. The compound eyes meet at the top of the head. The thorax is mostly covered with white or buff hairs. The abdomen is more slender and is evenly tapered. Each abdominal segment is black with a band of white or buff hairs on the rear half. The bands are broken but very narrowly interrupted in the middle.

Male: 7⁄16″ to ½″ (11 to 13 mm)

Female: 9⁄16″ to ⅝″ (14 to 17 mm)

Moist woodlands and forest edges

May through June

Small insects

Small insects

Sources

27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Infraorder
Orthorrhapha was historically one of two infraorders of Brachycera, a suborder of Diptera. However, Brachycera did not contain all of the descendants of the last common ancestor (paraphyletic). It was split into five extant (still existing) and one extinct infraorder. Orthorrhapha is now considered obsolete and has not been used in decades, but it persists in printed literature and on some online sources. A recent revision of the order Diptera (Pope, et al., 2011) revived the name Orthorrhapha, but this has not been widely accepted.

Subfamily
The genus Chrysopilus was formerly included in the subfamily Rhagioninae. In 1903 it was separated with five other genera into the new subfamily Chrysopilinae, but this was ignored by most authors. A recent molecular and morphological analysis of the family Rhagionidae (Kerr, 2004) supported the separation of the subfamily Chrysopilinae to include Chrysopilus and two other genera.

Chrysopilus ornatus - Ornate Snipe Fly

This is a showy fly, white and black abdomen with gold markings on thorax and wings.

Chrysopilus ornatus, ornate snipe fly, near the hedgerow at Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI. Photo was taken on June 9, 2021.

Richard
5/10/2024

Location: central Florida

quite a few of these in my back yard flying around over my grass

Babette Kis
6/9/2021

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI

This is a showy fly, white and black abdomen with gold markings on thorax and wings.

Chrysopilus ornatus, ornate snipe fly, near the hedgerow at Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI. Photo was taken on June 9, 2021.