Hanging-thief giving herself a wash on my hand, these guys are the coolest and I say that about all critters but cmon. They get their name from the way they hang off objects and hold their prey, that’s rad as hell.
one of the sillier insect interactions I’ve witnessed… this giant robberfly (Proctacanthus sp.) was lying in wait for prey when a winnow ant (Aphaenogaster treatae) crawled over and tried to bite at its feet, so the robberfly kicked it away, only for the ant to return and repeat the process at least 6 or 7 times before the robber got fed up and left
what i find particularly funny about this is that the robberfly is a voracious predator that eats everything from small flies to wasps and dragonflies bigger than itself, but the ant confidently strolls up and assumes that its fair game to carry back to the nest because it isn’t moving much (though i’m pretty sure this type of robberfly only attacks flying prey so the ant wasn’t in any real danger)
Very large robber fly attacking a cicada.
I took this photo years ago, and for some reason I just forgot about it. I don't know how considering how interesting it is.
[PHOTOS TAKEN: SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2023 | Image IDs: Four photos of a grey, black, and brown robber fly carrying around and eating a notably smaller grey, black, and red fly, hanging from the stem of a green plant in the first two, and standing on a light-skinned human finger in the latter /End IDs.]
I wasn't even trying to get this fly onto my hand, I suppose that it just wanted to enjoy its meal to go
Promachus fitchii (all three specimens in the top row) is reportedly rare east of the Missisipi. Good thing I'm not over there, I see these guys all the time. The promachids I encounter tend to be locally abundant in a given area, almost all of the ones inside my town are P. bastardii, and further out into the country I see more P. fitchii. Who knows if that's anything more than just chance.
These two species both have males with white tufts of setae on the end of their abdomens, but as you can see from the second pair of images P. fitchii is more a golden shade of brown, and has a red-green iridescence to its eyes.
As the name suggests, this species of robber fly uses it’s bee-like mimicry to deter predators and hunt its favorite prey, bees and wasps. Found in Texas, Mexico, and Central America.
Photos 1-6 by greglasley, 7 by doncaster13, 8 by briannawalther, 9 by phiditude, and 10 (for scale) by cmwarkoczewski
a Cyrtopogon marginalis becomes frustrated as it fails to pierce the armor of a click beetle, similar to how i felt upon realizing i, a self-proclaimed robberfly superfan, was unaware that yesterday was world robberfly day
[PHOTOS TAKEN: JULY 11TH, 2023 | Image IDs: Two photos of a large brown, grey, and black robber fly on a dirty, slightly green, white metal surface /End IDs.]