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Project Noah Nature School
Phoridae
Is a very small insect, size of a baby Drosophila melanogaster.
Europe, Romania, Iasi, on a Lamiaceae leaf, under a Juglans regia.
I noticed a white dot on it, and put my 100 mm and kenko rings, took some shots and the battery went down. After aprox half of hour I returned on the same spot and took some more shots. So they preferred that particular spot. They flew around but came back. I observed them only about an hour, until dark. There are only two flies. The female folds out her abdomen, exposing the white "horns" when the male is nearby.
Spotted on Jul 17, 2012
Submitted on Oct 25, 2013
15 Comments
Very interesting series!
Fantastic sequence. Congratulations on spotting that!
This is incredibly fascinating Ella! I have never seen anything like it either. Thank you for sharing.
Excelent!
It is a fantastic spotting!! it will be awesome to find more in formation on it.
Thank you Ella. It is the weirdest thing! I have been looking for anything like this in other flies and can't find anything yet.
Several species have the common name 'coffin fly', because they breed in human corpses with such tenacity, they can even continue living within buried coffins. For this reason, they are important in forensic entomology.
great macro work!!
Wow, incredible documentation. I admire your patience to capture these wonderful shots! Thanks Ella for sharing.
Surprising mating method!
Unusual-fascinating, appreciate the explanation!
@LaurenZarate, There are only two flies. The female folds out her abdomen, exposing the white "horns" when the male is nearby. Is the strangest behavior I ever seen, and I watch Animal Planet :)
I don't understand this. There are 3 flies in the first picture. Only one fly has this white thing on the abdomen. Is it parasitized?
Amazing! :o
Nobody has liked or commented on this yet? Do yourself a favor and really look at these images. Wow! Then realize how tiny they are. Super, super photos!