Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere.
Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere.
Mallophora fautrix
Large, robust, yellow and black furry fly about 2.5 cm long eating a Western Yellowjacket. This fly mimicks a bumble bee.
Landed on a Cape Honeysuckle branch under bamboo in the backyard. These prefer open, sunny locations where they await on twigs for passing prey. This is the only species in this genus in California. The genus Mallophora can be found in most southern states of the US down south to South America.
"They will hunt just about any flying insect but favored prey seem to be honey bees, Apis mellifera, which are taken on the wing as they visit flowers. The fly pierces the bee with bladelike mouth parts just behind the head into the thorax, immobilizing by severing the thoracic nerve, and carrying it back to its perch, drinks it dry." - Don McIntire Aka Robber Fly. I shot this with my compact Canon PowerShot G12 using the scene mode of Kids & Pets and manual focus.
This is just great, Cindy - definitely worth having a look at some of the old spottings.
Thank you Ferrets, Sukaina and Joshua. This is the coolest fly I've spotted and is still one of my favorite spottings.
Cindy these Robber flies are so kind and they hunt only when they find where their prey is available easily. I never see them making mob and attack in group.
@jgorneau Human is not Organism as all other lives can live without Human as long they can but Human is totally dependent on all them, so Human is separated from Web of Life of the Earth.
Thank you for your comments! Ashish, that is a great way to look at it. This fly is harmless unless I was to injure it or take its meal but then most animals (including us) would behave that way. This remains my favorite spotting. :)
Incredible detail. It pays to be patient even with a manual focus camera. Your effort is well worth it.
Hi Ashish,
I think that is a perfect way to look at organisms that way. Yes, humans have destroyed the habitats of many organisms, which has provoked them to harm us, therefore we are the direct cause of harm, for the organism was simply defending itself. I agree, with the technology we have now, we are becoming more and more dangerous. We can destroy forests in simply days--it is just horrible. Ashish, you are right. Humans are the most dangerous organism.
I remember this image from when I first joined PN. The sharpness and clarity is AMAZING.
Hi Jgorneau...
every organism is totally harmless to Human. In fact history says Human population grown severely and they destroyed habitats of many organism. When you capture other's habitat it will try to harm you in its protection. I do not think any Pest/Creature is more dangerous than Human.
Hi Craig, wow you're sweet! This is still my favorite spotting and series. The G12 has been wonderful although the rotary dial manual focus ended up giving me hand pain! No doubt it's because I was shooting so much.
I used the Kids and Pets setting since most of my subjects moved a bit in various lighting and I didn't like changing the shutter priority all the time. Call me lazy :)
I was surprised by my family in December with a Canon EOS 60D! Now that I have a DSLR, I need to relearn to shoot :) No complaints here! I even rented a macro lens and fell in love. Unfortunately, it will take a long time before I can afford that!
Lat: 33.15, Long: -117.01
Spotted on Sep 6, 2011
Submitted on Sep 6, 2011
