>Sorry to bother the whole list with this, but I've mislaid Dennis' address.
>Does anyone know what the bug referred to in this forwarded message might
>be? I think she's in Florida.
>
>TIA,
>Peggi
>>
>>I tell you what - I can't tell you if it's legal or not to import birds
>>from state to state, but if someone wants to become a multi-billionaire,
>>we have an insect here that appears in June called a horseguard. It is
>>vividly striped in yellow and black and you would swear its bite is
>>lethal to humans. It is quite formidable looking - about 1-1/4 to
>>1-1/2" long, and it hovers no higher than a horse's belly. It snatches
>>up flies from their legs, and occasionally an eye. That's their job and
>>they are exquisitely efficient. They grab and eat on the wing. It's an
>>instantaneous thing and fascinating to watch. I have quite an article
>>on them. They will also touch a person lightly to snatch an offending
>>fly off a leg. Never bite or sting. I look forward to them every year
>>because our donkeys suffer from thin skin and tasty blood and I have
>>been known to put stretch pants with suspenders on them.

Well, this has to be a fly (Diptera) or a wasp (Hymenoptera), although I
can't say which. The only flies that qualify are robber flies (Asilidae),
but several kinds of wasps and hornets (several families) might match this
description. I've never heard the term "horseguard," but (this is stream
of consciousness) I'll see if I can find anything in the few books on
insects I've got here.

Eureka! In *An Introduction to the Study of Insects* (Borror, De Long, and
Triplehorn, 1981), here's "horse guard" in the index. It's a wasp of the
family Sphecidae (sphecid wasps, including many familiar species but not
our yellowjackets and hornets), subfamily Bembicini (sand wasps), _Stictia
carolina_, about 25 mm long, black with yellow markings. "It often hunts
for flies (mostly Tabanidae [horse flies]) near horses . . ."

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416