This is the strangest thing one of the fruit fly cultures that I got from josh's frogs seems to have these tiny black bugs in the mix with the fruit flies they are about same size or little smaller then the smallest fruit fly. These black bugs can fly and hover but have no features that make it look like it could be a fruit fly crossbreed or something and they seem to feed on the same media as the fruit flies and dont look like mites or anything that I seen!
strange black bug in a fruit fly culture
- Thread starter massaman
- Start date
Help Support Mantidforum:
ok this is not the best image but this is good enough and i circled the bug compared to the fruit fly
the bug circled in blue is a regular fruit fly and the one circled in red is the one that was found in my culture and they seem to multiply like fruit flies too!
the bug circled in blue is a regular fruit fly and the one circled in red is the one that was found in my culture and they seem to multiply like fruit flies too!
Last edited by a moderator:
also read this somewhere but dont think a house fly could even mate with a fruit fly but this is what I read
If one common household fruit fly were to enter the culture it would breed and cross with the flightless flies and then you would begin to produce flying fruit flies.
http://www.a1reptiles.com/FlightlessFruitFlyCareSheet.html
If one common household fruit fly were to enter the culture it would breed and cross with the flightless flies and then you would begin to produce flying fruit flies.
http://www.a1reptiles.com/FlightlessFruitFlyCareSheet.html
cloud jaguar
Well-known member
that looks like a fruit fly pupae
ismart
Well-known member
That picture is hard to make out.
Fruit fly cultures mutate constantly. After a few generations, don't be surprised if you're running out of flightless ones. My high school life science class kept a large fruit fly culture, and when we started they were all flightless, but just by natural selection they all had working wings in a little over a month.
like i said the picture is not the best my web cam is not the greatest and its not a pupae or a fruit fly dont know how to show it any other way since no way to use my cell phone camera to transfer pictures and stuff!
Here is a little better picture of it as you can see it is nothing like a fruit fly
Here is a little better picture of it as you can see it is nothing like a fruit fly
Last edited by a moderator:
ABbuggin
Well-known member
IT appears to be shaped like some kind of louse (very small head and legs, but a large body); I'm not aware of any flying species of louse. In that case, I'll say that it is some kind of beetle.
If your willing to send a few dead specimens in a small container in a padded envelope, (would only cost a few bucks) I can take them (if I am unable to identify them) to the museum I work/volunteer at and will have the lead entomologist take a look at them.
If your willing to send a few dead specimens in a small container in a padded envelope, (would only cost a few bucks) I can take them (if I am unable to identify them) to the museum I work/volunteer at and will have the lead entomologist take a look at them.
Last edited by a moderator:
bellerophon
Well-known member
most likely a fungus gnat, hard to tell though.
Looks like a grain beatle, I have them in my grain too, have to micro it before using, maybe he does not micro his. Really dont hurt nothing, they are just added protein.
thats what it looks like which it is a grain beetle but well its a little extra bonus with my fruit flies for that little something different but did ever had a culture infested with some of these before!
Peter Clausen
Well-known member
Not sure why it would be and the image quality renders the example next to useless, but looks like a marsh fly with a small head to me.
