Jackal Flies

[FloridaDrafter]

Rodger inspired me with his mantis post to dig into my archives for some insects 🙂

I'm not sure of the species, but these flies are members of the Milichiidae family. They are "kleptoparasites", which means they steal food from others. These are feeding on an insect caught by a Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia). The Black and Yellow are medium sized spiders, as giant orb weavers go. We have some really big ones. I'm not generally skittish around things like this, but some of these big spiders make me run, LOL!

Newton

2014, T4i, 70-300mm L.

2014, T4i, 100mm L Macro.

2014, T4i, 100mm L Macro.

[wq9nsc]

Beautiful photos and thank you for sharing!  You probably created a few nightmares for people who don't appreciate the beauty of those insects 🙂

Rodger

[FloridaDrafter]

You are welcome, Rodger. One of the things about Florida is that you get lots of opportunities to shoot nightmarish creatures, especially when you shoot macro. Sometimes they get in your hair and make you do a crazy dance 

I particularly like spiders.