Can anyone ID this fly
Moderators: MacroMike, nzmacro, Ken Ramos, twebster, S. Alden
Can anyone ID this fly
Found a very interesting thread at Dpreview about a certain fly. Now I've never seen a fly do this before ...... outside of the robber fly. Its actually eating another fly and yet, it looks like an ordinary type of fly. Take a look, its interesting behaviour and also great shots
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=13790473
So if you have any idea, post it up. The guy has asked a museum for an ID, but I'm not sure he will get an answer.
Thanks macro and microholics.
Danny.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=13790473
So if you have any idea, post it up. The guy has asked a museum for an ID, but I'm not sure he will get an answer.
Thanks macro and microholics.
Danny.
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From my "bug guys":
Empis (Pachymeria) tessellata Fabricius (Dance Fly)
Dance flies look and act a lot like Robber-flies, from which they can be distinguished by their less bulging eyes and the lack of the trough between their eyes, and the fact that their larva, as well as their adults, are carnivorous. They are called Dance flies because members of the genus Hilara can often be seen flying low over the water in a twisting spiralling manner that to our eyes looks much like a dance. Dance flies are also of interest because of their courtship. Because of their predatory nature the males often feel it is advisable to offer the female a gift of food to keep her occupied while he is mating with her. In the least complicated species the male simply offers the female an insect he has caught, in more advanced species the male wraps the gift in a ball of cotton spun from special glands in his front legs, and in some decadent species the male offers the female an empty ball of silk safe in knowledge he will have done the deed and escaped before she catches on to his deception.
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Feel free to post this on that forum if you like Danny.
Empis (Pachymeria) tessellata Fabricius (Dance Fly)
Dance flies look and act a lot like Robber-flies, from which they can be distinguished by their less bulging eyes and the lack of the trough between their eyes, and the fact that their larva, as well as their adults, are carnivorous. They are called Dance flies because members of the genus Hilara can often be seen flying low over the water in a twisting spiralling manner that to our eyes looks much like a dance. Dance flies are also of interest because of their courtship. Because of their predatory nature the males often feel it is advisable to offer the female a gift of food to keep her occupied while he is mating with her. In the least complicated species the male simply offers the female an insect he has caught, in more advanced species the male wraps the gift in a ball of cotton spun from special glands in his front legs, and in some decadent species the male offers the female an empty ball of silk safe in knowledge he will have done the deed and escaped before she catches on to his deception.
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Feel free to post this on that forum if you like Danny.
Sue Alden
Administrator
Repost of my images are welcome
Administrator
Repost of my images are welcome
Hey thanks Sue , I will post it up for him. Fascinating behaviour, because somehow they don't look like robber flies, obviously must be related though.
Larry, you are right about the jaws. They do tend to suck and regurgitate, but robber flies are deadly killers and even in flight. The shots this guy has shown, look more like some other types of flies though.
Anyway thanks macroholics and I'll post that up Sue.
Danny.
Larry, you are right about the jaws. They do tend to suck and regurgitate, but robber flies are deadly killers and even in flight. The shots this guy has shown, look more like some other types of flies though.
Anyway thanks macroholics and I'll post that up Sue.
Danny.
From Sues "bug guys..."
Sneaky little buggers arn't they? ".....they can see paradise by the dashboard lights "
... "the male offers the female an empty ball of silk safe in knowledge he will have done the deed and escaped before she catches on to his deception."
Sneaky little buggers arn't they? ".....they can see paradise by the dashboard lights "
Site Admin.
Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.
Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.
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Meatloaf - Bat out of H&^^Ken Ramos wrote:From Sues "bug guys..."
... "the male offers the female an empty ball of silk safe in knowledge he will have done the deed and escaped before she catches on to his deception."
Sneaky little buggers arn't they? ".....they can see paradise by the dashboard lights "
Sue Alden
Administrator
Repost of my images are welcome
Administrator
Repost of my images are welcome
Yeah you're right I thought for sure Tom W. would jump on that one.
Site Admin.
Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.
Kenneth Ramos
Rutherfordton, North Carolina
Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques.
- twebster
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Hi ya' guys
I haven't been ignoring this post. I've been busy trying to figure out to which family this fly belongs. I can tell you every family he doesn't belong to
Flies don't chew food items as we would customarily think. Flies have no jaws. The jaws have been fused into a proboscis. Predatory flies do have rather muscular and serrated tongues within the proboscis. A horse fly's tongue is quite broad and has row after row of cross-running ribs that look like short sections of saw blades. When rasped against a prey or food item those serrated tongues can quickly reduce the prey or food item to hash. What we call a fly bite is really that proboscis penetrating our skin.
I'll keep working on the ID, although my specialty is really parasitic flies and wasps.
Best regards to all as always,
I haven't been ignoring this post. I've been busy trying to figure out to which family this fly belongs. I can tell you every family he doesn't belong to
Flies don't chew food items as we would customarily think. Flies have no jaws. The jaws have been fused into a proboscis. Predatory flies do have rather muscular and serrated tongues within the proboscis. A horse fly's tongue is quite broad and has row after row of cross-running ribs that look like short sections of saw blades. When rasped against a prey or food item those serrated tongues can quickly reduce the prey or food item to hash. What we call a fly bite is really that proboscis penetrating our skin.
I'll keep working on the ID, although my specialty is really parasitic flies and wasps.
Best regards to all as always,
Tom Webster
Administrator
Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA
Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!
Administrator
Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA
Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!
Looks like we found. I decided to take a look through bug guide and came across this one
http://bugguide.net/node/view/5493/bgimage
Thanks folks.
Danny.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/5493/bgimage
Thanks folks.
Danny.