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What's eating this fly?

19 years ago

I took these just before dark tonight. Not enough light to get any kind of decent focus, but you can see that a bug is sucking on a dead fly. I've only seen spiders do this, and this is no spider. Doesn't he look evil? He was quite a bit smaller than the fly; I'm curious about how he killed it. While I was watching he removed his proboscis (?) from the fly, rolled the fly over onto his side a bit, and reinserted it.

Any idea what he is?

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Comments (3)

Day_By_Day
19 years ago
Goin' with one of the Broad-headed Bugs (Alydidae).
alisande
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks for trying, DBD, but I found out what it is: an Ambush Bug.

From a university website:

Ambush bugs are small, greenish-yellow or brown-and-yellow insects usually seen on flowers (in general). Well camouflaged by shape and color, they wait there to 'ambush' insect prey, often much heavier than they are. Most are 3/8 to 1/2 inch long. Their four femora, swollen with muscles, are used to snatch and hold prey, which may be a butterfly, fly, bee, or moth. Ambush bugs then immobolize their victims by injecting saliva through their short beaks.

And someone sent me this picture:
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Day_By_Day
19 years ago
Aw, man. I was gonna pick that first, but got sidetracked on the other one that tricked me.

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