My apologies for taking so long to update, but I've been busy shooting and uploading my photos. Today I'm doing another interlude, and actually harkening back to my Predators segment.
This is a Robber Fly, family Asilidae, more specifically Promachus vertebratus - Giant Robber Fly. Robber Flies are the uncontested predator of the flies, and pretty uncontested by other orders too. Almost always pretty big, this genus is the largest. You can get an idea of the size since its eating a honey bee.
Robber Flies will try to kill just about everything, including insects that are larger than it. I've seen them eating a Leaf-footed Bug which was close in size. While I've never heard of them biting someone, I try to keep the odds of it as lows as possible because I have a feeling it would make a Horse Fly bite feel like a mosquito.
This is probably one of my best insect photos I've ever taken, and I hope you enjoy it as much as me.
very cool!
Posted by: Cathy | July 22, 2007 at 10:47 AM