It’s been about a week since I posted a bug find in fresh produce. Well, if you’re a bug and you find yourself in the Suh home, expect for a hospitable stay.
We comfortably housed the bug in a plastic container accompanied with a stalk of broccoli and drops of fresh water. In the heart wave, we couldn’t bear to let it go and have it get singed in the 100+ weather.
This morning I looked inside the container before a final toss, and there it was. Not a green slimy thing but something with wings and multiple legs.
It transformed from a larva to an actual flying insect. Is it a bee or something else?
Tomorrow is “set free” day. Gotta wait for Chris to get home from work so he can witness this metamorphosis. He probably won’t appreciate having this bug cup right up to his face, but come on, this is pretty awesome!
14 responses to “Afterthought observation to broccoli larva”
It’s a fly of some sort. Do you know about BugGuide? You can submit a photo to them, and they have volunteer experts who often will show up pretty quickly and tell you what you have. Here’s the link. If you set up an account (just a user name and password) you can search for me under Linda Leinen and see the bugs I’ve submitted. The photo of the fly on the plain white background would be the best one to submit. If you can crop it down, that would be good.
Thanks for the link Linda! I just registered. So I’ll look for you. Looks like an interesting and informative place for bug learning.
Linda, I uploaded last night and received a reply this morning! I just posted an update about it in a new post.
Thanks for the information. What a great site to learn about bugs. This is perfect for our science lessons.
Super cool shots. It really has been bad in California. Hope it cools off some soon.
Oh my, the heat wave has been awful! Thankfully the weather has mellowed out and we’ll have some 80 degree weather compared to the 100s.
Yikes, it was too hot and made sleeping difficult too.
Indeed
Wow, that is pretty awesome! Did you find out what type of fly it is?
It was quite a find! My daughter jumped off her stool when she saw it. She’s 9 and likes to help me cut veggies; she refused to eat the steamed broccolis.
A blogger friend suggested I submit a photo of it onto a bug ID website and someone identified it as a Hover Fly. Yucky to find in produce but cool. lol
I’ll submit an update to it soon.
Oh I see, haha that’s fair.
Hmm interesting, I look forward to reading the update.
You’re quite the entomologists! 🪰
Thanks…as you probably do too, we homeschooling mamas have to learn fast! We don’t have any furry pets, so we make do with other kinds.
A science lesson before your very eyes!
Hands-on! One of our friends told me that she sees bugs like that often in organic produce. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ellis refused to eat steamed broccoli later.
Ellis is a smart little girl. We had several instances at Kroger where people brought home grapes in those plastic pouches with slits in them to let the grapes breathe. So both shoppers put the grapes in a plastic bag and got home and put them on the counter-top in the bag to wash … both shoppers saw something move and it was a black widow spider. I’d have had a heart attack on the spot, grabbed the grapes in a bag and taken them outside. Rumbling – typing faster. 🙂 I not a fan of shredded wheat but they were on sale, so bought a box of them. Opened the new box, ripped open one of the brown packages inside with three biscuits – put two biscuits in a bowl and went to get scotch tape to tape up the paper packet that held the last one. In the second I was gone, a parade of bugs marched across the countertop. You never saw anyone grab up the box, the packet and run it outside!