A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Empis sp.
Small fly from the Empidae family. This family contains more than 1600 described species, with the genus Empis containing about 460 species. The head is more or less spherical, with a visible neck; eyes large, often restricting the face. Proboscis well developed and rigid, and often wielded with abandon by these little predators. Several of the Empis species are "balloon makers." That is, the male flies capture an insect and enclose it in a frothy bag. The male carries this package around with him as a lure to entice the female to mate. (Females of many species seem to require something of this sort. Wonder if a "bug balloon" would work with H. sapiens?) Some species dispense with the froth. Empis barbatoides males capture little insects, usually weaker flies like bibionids (March flies), and dangle them in front of females as a preface to courtship. Others trick their intended with an empty ball of silk. The larvae (of all empidids, not just Empis) have been found in decaying vegetable matter and in aquatic associations, or under the bark of trees.
Holm oak and pine tree forest
Camera Model: NIKON D300. Exposure Time: 1/320 sec.; f/32; ISO Speed Rating: 800. Exposure Bias: +2/3 EV. Focal Length: 300.0 mm.
Spotted on May 22, 2013
Submitted on Jul 15, 2013
14 Comments
Yes the trouble with flies is they have wings :)
Right Mark, I would like to come back to the same place and find the same fly. I would take lateral shot!! :))))
Next time I will try harder, I think this one escaped away from me after a couple of shots
this one looks close http://xespok.net/diptera/main.php/v/Emp...
Empididae Empidinae Empis empis :))
Looks good. Nice proboscis... We possibly need the lateral shot for yours? :)
Empididae, Empis sp. ?
Ummm, difficult!!
only 700 species... let's take 230 each and work through them 8-)
Yep - the head is different (small) although I saw some head variations in a quick scan... as arlanda said maybe dimorphism too.. maybe a sideways jump :-) it's also a bit hairy for Bibio?
Maybe a Bibio sp? Although there's something different about the shape of the head.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/376674
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/march_fli...
Thanks mark, I am looking for Bibionidae flies here in local data bases, without success to the moment. All they look very similar but not quite. Besides, male and female are quite different. Mine seems to be a female!
Thanks RoshniBhojwani, Spain is close to Africa but as far as I know we don't have tse-tse flies here.
Do you have any links to support your suggestion Roshni ?? The genus Glossina is confined to Africa as far as I can tell.
its a tse tse fly
Lovely picture Arlanda. The fly looks a bit like a Bibionid species.