Hi Betsy, They are called Black Tiger Bee fly or simply Tiger Bee Fly
http://bugguide.net/node/view/2803/bgimage Species Xenox tigrinus - Tiger Bee Fly - BugGuide.Net An online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information. Read more...<http://bugguide.net/node/view/2803/bgimage> They do not bite humans. They take nectar from the plant and they are parasites on carpenter Bees. http://www.urbanwildlifeguide.net/2011/08/carpenter-bee-and-tiger-bee-fly.html They come to moth lights at night! Very cool insects! Cheers Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 42.429007,-76.47111 http://haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ Ithaca area moths: http://tinyurl.com/kn6q2p4 Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/140817samplebook.pdf ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Betsy Darlington <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 9:46 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L; NATURAL-HISTORY-L Cc: darlington lois Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Insect question Do any of you know - Is this large fly a "Bee fly" (Family Bombiliidae), and if so, do any of you know what species it is and what insects it parasatizes? Do they bite humans? (Birders - yes, this is a bird question since probably some birds think they are delicious!) BTW, these are the laziest flies I've ever run across. All they do is sit around all day - which, if they bite, is ok with me. And it's ok with any predators that might want to eat them, I suppose. Thanks! Betsy -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
