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  1. Handsome Devil (Sabethes cyaneus) Photo by pbertner More: http://www.thefeaturedcreature.com/2013/05/now-this-is-buzzworthy-species-of-mosquito-is-worlds-most-beautiful.html

    Handsome Devil (Sabethes cyaneus)

    Photo by pbertner

    More: http://www.thefeaturedcreature.com/2013/05/now-this-is-buzzworthy-species-of-mosquito-is-worlds-most-beautiful.html

     

  2. New Species of Parasitic Spider Flies Discovered in Australia

    Four new species of spider flies of the genus Panops have been discovered in Australia. The flies are described in a study published in ZooKeys: doi: 10.3897/zookeys.172.1889. Adult spider flies are considered important pollinators of flowers. It is the larvae that acts as a spider parasite. The larvae live as internal parasitoids of juvenile spiders.

    The newly discovered flies have large round bodies covered with dense hairs and black or metallic green to blue coloration, giving a jewel-like appearance. The larvae of these flies specialize in parasitizing mygalomorph spiders such as the trap door and Sydney funnel web spiders. Panops austrae is pictured above and Panops jade is pictured below.

    Read more: Sciencenewsblog

    (Photos by Shaun Winterton)

     
  3. Robber fly sucking calliphorid fly (by Parag Giri on Flickr)

    Robber fly sucking calliphorid fly (by Parag Giri on Flickr)

     
  4. my blood sure give a nice translucent effect. :) (photo/text by Christian-DL on Flickr)

    my blood sure give a nice translucent effect. :)

    (photo/text by Christian-DL on Flickr)

     
  5. Fly Macro by (Christian-DL on Flickr)

    Fly Macro by (Christian-DL on Flickr)

     
  6. Empis sp  (Robber Fly) As a nuptial gift the male presents the female with a meal gift. If she accepts mating takes place. (photo/text by Walwyn on Flickr)

    Empis sp  (Robber Fly)

    As a nuptial gift the male presents the female with a meal gift. If she accepts mating takes place.

    (photo/text by Walwyn on Flickr)

     
  7. Green on green (by Nicolas Reusens Extreme Macro´s on Flickr)

    Green on green (by Nicolas Reusens Extreme Macro´s on Flickr)

     
  8. Dead after sex  It’s a non rare scene when I shoot insects at morning, even more in autumm, flies, coleopters, bugs, some of them start the mating at hot afternoon end and one of them, always the male, die in the cold of the coming night, at evening there were females with the problem of separate the dead mate. This female was lucky, allowed me to take the photo and after released the male in a leaf nearby. (photo/text by Gustavo Mazzarollo on Flickr)

    Dead after sex 

    It’s a non rare scene when I shoot insects at morning, even more in autumm, flies, coleopters, bugs, some of them start the mating at hot afternoon end and one of them, always the male, die in the cold of the coming night, at evening there were females with the problem of separate the dead mate. This female was lucky, allowed me to take the photo and after released the male in a leaf nearby.

    (photo/text by Gustavo Mazzarollo on Flickr)

     

  9. Zebra stripes evolved to keep biting flies at bay

    (By Victoria Gill)

    Why zebras evolved their characteristic black-and-white stripes has been the subject of decades of debate among scientists.

    Now researchers from Hungary and Sweden claim to have solved the mystery.

    The stripes, they say, came about to keep away blood-sucking flies.

    They report in the Journal of Experimental Biology that this pattern of narrow stripes makes zebras “unattractive” to the flies.

    They key to this effect is in how the striped patterns reflect light.

    Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16944753

     

  10. staceythinx:

    We’ve all seen macrophotography of insects before, but never quite like this. These are photos of bugs after they’ve been peeled off the windshield of a car.

    Photographer Voker Steger describes his method:

    “The speed is important. The right speed is about 70km/h (43 mph). Flies that get hit by a car at that speed look like fallen angels in the electron microscope.”

     
  11. scinerds: A Battle of the Vampires, 20 Million Years Ago? These are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that “bat flies” have been doing their noxious business with bats for at least 20 million years. For bats, that’s a long time to deal with a parasite doing its best vampire impression. Maybe it is nature’s revenge on the vampire bat, an aggressive blood consumer in its own right that will feed on anything from sheep to dogs and humans. The find was made by researchers from Oregon State University in amber from the Dominican Republic that was formed 20-30 million years ago. The bat fly was entombed and perfectly preserved for all that time in what was then oozing tree sap and later became a semi-precious stone. This is the only fossil ever found of a bat fly, and scientists say it’s an extraordinary discovery. It was also carrying malaria, further evidence of the long time that malaria has been prevalent in the New World. The genus of bat fly discovered in this research is now extinct. Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203102414.htm Photo: Bat fly in amber. This is the only known fossil of a bat fly, a specimen at least 20 million years old that carried malaria and fed on the blood of bats. (Credit: George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University)

    scinerds:

    A Battle of the Vampires, 20 Million Years Ago?

    These are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that “bat flies” have been doing their noxious business with bats for at least 20 million years.

    For bats, that’s a long time to deal with a parasite doing its best vampire impression. Maybe it is nature’s revenge on the vampire bat, an aggressive blood consumer in its own right that will feed on anything from sheep to dogs and humans.

    The find was made by researchers from Oregon State University in amber from the Dominican Republic that was formed 20-30 million years ago. The bat fly was entombed and perfectly preserved for all that time in what was then oozing tree sap and later became a semi-precious stone. This is the only fossil ever found of a bat fly, and scientists say it’s an extraordinary discovery. It was also carrying malaria, further evidence of the long time that malaria has been prevalent in the New World. The genus of bat fly discovered in this research is now extinct.

    Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203102414.htm

    Photo: Bat fly in amber. This is the only known fossil of a bat fly, a specimen at least 20 million years old that carried malaria and fed on the blood of bats. (Credit: George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University)

     
  12. Just Love (by Nicolas R on Flickr)

    Just Love (by Nicolas R on Flickr)

     
  13. :-p  (by Nicolas R. on Flickr)

    :-p  (by Nicolas R. on Flickr)

     

  14. Planet Earth (2006) Flat Lizards Feeding (by GooseGreen82)

     
  15. Blow flies on Stapelia grandiflora flower Blow flies pollinating a Stapelia grandiflora flower (from Calitzdorp Dam, Little Karoo, Western Cape, South Africa). The flies are being tricked by the flower, and their maggot eggs won’t survive as the flower will die soon (and the flower is not really a suitable host or food for the maggots). (photo/text by Martin_Heigan on Flickr)

    Blow flies on Stapelia grandiflora flower

    Blow flies pollinating a Stapelia grandiflora flower (from Calitzdorp Dam, Little Karoo, Western Cape, South Africa).

    The flies are being tricked by the flower, and their maggot eggs won’t survive as the flower will die soon (and the flower is not really a suitable host or food for the maggots).

    (photo/text by Martin_Heigan on Flickr)