Pitcher Plant Flesh Fly

As the Adventuring for Animals summer camp is coming to an end, we finished up the last day of classes with an all day bioblitz. We split up into groups and tried to document as many animals around Wolf Ridge as we could, covering as much ground as we could. 

My group of students made our way down to Raven Lake where we got a handful of insect, bird, fish, and of course leech observations. The most noteworthy find of the day for me was a species of flesh fly likely in the genus Fletcherimyia. The species F fletcheri seems like a good candidate, but I haven’t been able to find much information on these flies in the north yet. Like other pitcher plant inquilines these flies complete the larval stage of their development in the liquid of the pitchers, consuming the prey that fall in, in turn making nutrients available for the plant. 

Fletcherimyia sp. found within purple pitcher plant

Still in the pitcher

Also plenty of pitcher plant mosquito (Wyeomyia smithii) larva and many pupa and adults where seen

After a while at Raven we climbed Marshall Mountain to enjoy the view. We were hoping to see the osprey from yesterday flying over Wolf Lake, but only saw a few soaring turkey vulture. On the hike back we keep hearing the call of a broad wing getting louder and louder. After a few minutes of bushwhacking we found it in a tree about 10 feet above us. 

Broad winged hawk (Buteo platypterus)




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