Bug FAQWavy Mucksucker
Orthonevra nitida · Order: Diptera · Family: Syrphidae
Adults are small, measuring about 4 to 5 mm long. The head looks brassy metallic black with a scale-like pile, and the thorax is metallic green with four coppery-purple stripes. They are commonly seen on flowers where they feed on nectar and pollen, and they occur in eastern and central North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Adults are flower flies, frequently found on flowers where they take nectar and pollen.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The larvae are rat-tailed, but O. nitida larvae have not been described.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Observed in eastern and central North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 36 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New York, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Syrphidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthonevra_nitida
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.