{"id":9544,"date":"2019-05-13T17:48:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T21:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/?page_id=9544"},"modified":"2025-10-21T13:50:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:50:25","slug":"small-headed-fly","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/fact-sheets\/common-name-listing\/small-headed-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Small-headed Fly"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
A Small-headed Fly on the underside of a maple leaf in Etna, Maine, July 27th, 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Small-headed Fly<\/strong> belongs to a family of flies called Acroceridae<\/strong>.\u00a0 They are all small to medium in size with a very tiny head relative to the rest of their body, which has a somewhat humpbacked appearance.\u00a0 The head is comprised almost entirely of their two eyes (their eyes are holoptic, meaning they meet at the top of the head). One of the species we have in Maine is Turbopsebius sulphuripes<\/i><\/strong><\/a> (BugGuide.net). Here is a specimen from Rangely: https:\/\/bugguide.net\/node\/view\/1883597<\/a><\/p>\n

These flies can buzz like a bee when picked up, which can be quite startling and unnerving.\u00a0 Some members of the family have a long, slender proboscis and feed on flowers.\u00a0 Others lack a proboscis entirely and so apparently do not feed at all in the adult stage.\u00a0 Interestingly, the larvae of these flies are internal parasites of spiders!\u00a0 The flies lay their eggs in large numbers on vegetation and they hatch into tiny flattened larvae called \u201cplanidia.\u201d The planidia wait for a passing spider to attach to, and subsequently enter into the spider\u2019s body. The larvae pupate outside the body of the spider, often in the spider\u2019s web (if it\u2019s a web-spinning species of spider).<\/p>\n

\n

You can learn even more about them, and find many more photos, at BugGuide.net: Family Acroceridae<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Small-headed Fly belongs to a family of flies called Acroceridae.\u00a0 They are all small to medium in size with a very tiny head relative to the rest of their body, which has a somewhat humpbacked appearance.\u00a0 The head is comprised almost entirely of their two eyes (their eyes are holoptic, meaning they meet at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"parent":1561,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9544","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nSmall-headed Fly - Home and Garden IPM from Cooperative Extension - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/fact-sheets\/common-name-listing\/small-headed-fly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small-headed Fly - 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