An orange yellow fly with long legs and antennae sits on a gray background. It has dark stripes on the legs, iridescent green eyes, and four large dark spots on the wings, laid out in a diamond shape.

An orange yellow fly with long legs and antennae sits on a scale encrusted twig background. It has dark stripes on the legs, iridescent green eyes, and four large dark spots on the wings, laid out in a diamond shape.

An orange yellow fly with long legs and antennae sits on a scale encrusted twig background. It has dark stripes on the legs, iridescent green eyes, and four large dark spots on the wings, laid out in a diamond shape.

An orange yellow maggot sits on a scale encrusted twig background, among numerous scale insects.

Don't let this delicate little muppet fly fool you - larvae are voracious predators of armored scale insects! A member of the "gall" midge family, it has abandoned plant feeding for a meat-based diet (like many others).

#Cecidomyiidae: #Dentifibula viburni
Host = white prunicola scale; #Diaspididae