Bugland – Tiny Peacock

You may think this just looks like a common tiny fruit fly, but it’s a little more complicated than that. It’s actually a Strauzia
longipennis, which is a genus of the Tephritidae type of fruit fly — a family that includes nearly 5,000 different species. And, the Tephritidae aren’t the only family of fruit flies — there is actually another whole species called the Drosophilidae. To distinguish them from the Drosophilidae, the Tephritidae are sometimes called peacock flies — a nod to their elaborate and colorful markings. This little peacock was photographed on a sunflower in Park Hill by Mark Silverstein.