Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Robber Fly

Asilidae

Description:

Although robber flies can vary considerably in size and bodies, they all possess extremely long spiny legs, bearded face, piercing mouthparts, large eyes, hollowed out area between the eyes, and a bristly humped thorax. Some are stout like bees while others are long and narrow with a very long abdomen. And the various species, of which there are about 1000 in North America, utilize a wide range of habitats, from our yards to the beach to desert scrub and even grasslands. They can be found perched on the ground, on branches and leaves, or on various structures. Robber flies will eat almost any flying creatures they can catch. Some of their prey can be considerable larger than they are, and one’s daily diet may include everything from bees and wasps to grasshoppers, butterflies, beetles, and other flies. Most hunt from perches where they wait for passing prey, and some species actually establish a flight territory that they defend from other robber flies. They possess a mobile head that can move about in various directions. When seeing a passing prey, they will immediately give chase and catch it in mid-air. They may even fly ahead and intercept the prey from an angle. They will then fly to a shady perch, holding the prey in their long spiny legs, and consume their catch by sucking their prey dry with hypodermic-like mouthparts.

Habitat:

Brushy area of greenbelt.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

No Comments

joanbstanley
Spotted by
joanbstanley

Highland Village, Texas, USA

Spotted on Jun 11, 2015
Submitted on Jul 8, 2015

Related Spottings

Robber Fly Robber fly Robber fly Robber Fly

Nearby Spottings

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Honey Bee Carolina Anole Fox squirrel

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team