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

Stalk-eyed Fly

fam. Diopsidae

Description:

About 10 mm fly with the compound eyes on stalks. Also antennae are located on the stalk, rather than in the middle of the head as in all other flies.

Habitat:

Meadow and mixed forest, 200 meters from a river. Hlane National park, Bush camp

Notes:

The size of the stalk-eyed flies span up to a centimeter long, and they feed on both decaying plants and animals. Adult diopsids are typically found on low-lying vegetation in humid areas, often near streams and rivers, where they feed on fungi and bacteria that they scavenge from decaying vegetation. The larvae are saprophagic or phytophagous, eating decaying and fresh plant matter. I have managed to find three stalk eyed flies in Mozambique and Swaxiland, and two out of three was actually close to a river. (third one close to the Indian Ocean)

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

4 Comments

Tiz
Tiz 9 years ago

Thank you Doc :) Always happy to spot them!

DrNamgyalT.Sherpa
DrNamgyalT.Sherpa 9 years ago

What dumb bell eyes! Great spotting, Tiz.

Tiz
Tiz 9 years ago

Thank you Rob :)

RobThacker
RobThacker 9 years ago

Nive find Tiz

Tiz
Spotted by
Tiz

Mbabane, Sifundza seHhohho, Swaziland

Spotted on Apr 5, 2014
Submitted on May 12, 2014

Spotted for Missions

Related Spottings

Robber Fly Spotting Pill Bug Shield Bug

Nearby Spottings

Caterpillar Spiny Leaf Beetle Fly laying eggs Dice Moth Caterpillar

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team