This is Machimus sp., a predatory fly with five eyes (two kinds, ocelli and compound) and all kinds of other crazy features such as mystax (bristly mustache thingies that protect the face from prey). "The short, strong proboscis is used to stab and inject victims with saliva containing neurotoxic and proteolytic enzymes which paralyze and digest the insides; the fly then sucks the liquefied meal much like we vacuum up an ice cream soda through a straw." Gives all new meaning to the famous line from There Will Be Blood, "I drink your milkshake!" (Proboscis quote is from this Robber Flies site, which is also where I made my identification.)
Above: Robber Fly eating a Common House Fly (Musca domestica) on the small solar panel of a garden pathway night light.
Back story: I was starting to become concerned with the number of flies that were hanging around the back yard, but I don't like using pesticides because they harm the beneficial insects (Mantis, Ladybug, etc.) and the critters (lizards, birds, etc.) who eat bugs. Happily, this natural problem had a natural solution I never knew about until now: Robber Flies! They're stationed here an there around the yard, slurping melted insides.
Above: I witnessed this calm brutality less than five minutes after the first. When I moved even closer for a better picture, the Robber Fly lifted off with its prey as if they were one. That really creeped me out.
Below: Just lying in wait.
I have seen one of those before- they are super creepy looking. We have these really primative hairy fast moving mutant caterpillar insect thingies around here. I can't begin to imagine what they are called, but I will see if I can find a picture for you. I think you'd get a kick out of them!
ReplyDeletenot caterpillar, I meant centipede.
ReplyDeleteWe had those things at our house in Hendersonville. They came out of the bathtub drain, and dad called them "Thousand-Leggers." They're so disgusting! As a kid, I learned that if you step on them, you have to squash every segment. Otherwise, the individual seqments keep running around just like in the arcade game Centipede. (Remember that game?!) Yuck. I'd have to say, House Centipedes and Humpback Crickets are my most phobia-producing critters because of their abundance in my childhood.
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