Unusual flying insect. What is it?

[Caged Great]

http://imgur.com/a/mBJ3g#nVFCWfs

Never seen these ones before. What are they? Is it a pest that will need to be dealt with?

[Mazrim]

Looks like a flying ant to me. They aren't too unusual around here.

[Regulator75]

I was about to start a thread on these buggers too.
Haven't been able to photograph them yet.

We suspect these guys may have bitten / stung my son, but cannot confirm.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

I was about to start a thread on these buggers too.
Haven't been able to photograph them yet.

We suspect these guys may have bitten / stung my son, but cannot confirm.

Our son came in from the yard last night saying he was stung/bit by something resembling that.

I've seen these before, but don't remember them being this aggressive.

[SportsJunky]

The prophecies are right. It is starting.

[Circa89]

It is a birch leaf mining sawfly. A close relative of wasps and bees (Hymenoptera). No stingers, just an ovipositor for depositing eggs deep inside a birch leaf. They do have biting mouthparts but would not bite a human.
The worst they do is wreck your birch tree.

[Shaggin Wagon]

Braconid Wasp - http://www.insectsofalberta.com/wasps.htm

Apparently they prey on other insects. HGTV says they don't sting but they are a wasp. They sting their prey so I am sure they could sting a person. Just tell your kid to man up.

http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/bene...sps/index.html

[Northendzone]

7 posts in and no reference to burning it, with fire!!!

[Minnie]

That's not a bug. THIS is a bug. </crocodiledundee>

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

7 posts in and no reference to burning it, with fire!!!

There is a fire ban right now...

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Circa89

It is a birch leaf mining sawfly. A close relative of wasps and bees (Hymenoptera). No stingers, just an ovipositor for depositing eggs deep inside a birch leaf. They do have biting mouthparts but would not bite a human.
The worst they do is wreck your birch tree.

That would make sense, there are a bunch of Birch trees in the middle of our street

[Wood]

Don't mean to derail the thread but this insect talk reminded me last weekend out at Koocanusa I caught a black widow spider on the beach. I didn't know they could be found around here. We had just taken a break from fishing and went to a random beach along the shore for a couple hours, it came running out from the grass and climbed up onto my cooler as I was grabbing a drink

No idea if it was male or female but a little freaky nonetheless

[Goodlad]

Originally Posted by Wood

Don't mean to derail the thread but this insect talk reminded me last weekend out at Koocanusa I caught a black widow spider on the beach. I didn't know they could be found around here. We had just taken a break from fishing and went to a random beach along the shore for a couple hours, it came running out from the grass and climbed up onto my cooler as I was grabbing a drink

No idea if it was male or female but a little freaky nonetheless

If you could easily identify it as a black widow it was likely a female. The males look significantly different, and are also much smaller than the females.

Spoiler!

[Wood]

Alright definitely a female then

All I knew about them is it's the females that you need to worry about, males a otherwise harmless as they can't bite hard enough to break the skin of a human

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Wood

Don't mean to derail the thread but this insect talk reminded me last weekend out at Koocanusa I caught a black widow spider on the beach. I didn't know they could be found around here. We had just taken a break from fishing and went to a random beach along the shore for a couple hours, it came running out from the grass and climbed up onto my cooler as I was grabbing a drink

No idea if it was male or female but a little freaky nonetheless

It would be a Northern Black Widow, that is pretty North even for them. The hourglass will have a gap in the middle.

[Regulator75]

^^^

[Wood]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

It would be a Northern Black Widow, that is pretty North even for them. The hourglass will have a gap in the middle.

Yeah it was all black and had 2 red dots, shaped almost like 2 arrows pointing at each other. It moved so fast I couldn't see it long enough to get a great look so I just assumed it was an hourglass shape. It was about an inch long, my gf could easily see if from shore about 15 feet away

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Wood

Yeah it was all black and had 2 red dots, shaped almost like 2 arrows pointing at each other. It moved so fast I couldn't see it long enough to get a great look so I just assumed it was an hourglass shape. It was about an inch long, my gf could easily see if from shore about 15 feet away

Sounds right. Not very toxic compared to it's Southern cousin, unless you are allergic a bite from them is not bad. Of course not getting bit at all is much better.

[BloodFetish]

It's a Herpes fly. You should get tested.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Wood

Alright definitely a female then

All I knew about them is it's the females that you need to worry about, males a otherwise harmless as they can't bite hard enough to break the skin of a human

Generally all the insects and arachnids you need to worry about are the female versions. They're the bigger ones, the ones that bite for various reasons, and the ones with the poison. The males are just used for breeding in most cases, and often die when they breed. The insects that have drones and soldiers and such, I believe are technically female, even though they don't breed like the queens.

Even mosquitoes, the ones that bite are female. They need the blood to jump start their egg production.