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Robber Fly

Asilidae

Photo by annorion
Published on Project Noah
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29.7719, -90.8092

Field Notes

Description:

Kind of looks like a dragonfly body but shorter and with a larger upper body. I’m not sure what type of bug it was about to eat either but it was still twitching a bit when I took the pic.

Habitat:

Spotted in tall grass on edge of woods in South Louisiana.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (7)
Darwinist
The milkweed bugs start out very small (almost microscopic after hatching) and go through several molts as they grow to adulthood. They are a milky-white color after each molt but in a few hours turn orange and black again as the exoskeleton hardens.
annorion
It was pretty interesting...one second the Robber fly was there hanging out on a leaf and then he swooped up the other bug...surprised the heck out of me! I often see the orange bugs all orange with white dots I always thought that might be the young form of the bug pictured. Do milkweed bugs start off just orange and white?
Darwinist
the prey could be a milkweed bug http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/naturephotos/milkweedbugs.htm
AnnaWhipkey
robber fly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilidae
Photographed
PublishedJuly 17, 2011

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