Soldier Fly with a Pseudoscorpion
16.7354, -92.6387
Field Notes
Description:
Large Soldier Fly, 1.5 cm long, wasp-colored like an Ichneumonid and very active and agitated. It had something attached to it's thorax (Pictures 1 and 2) so I put it in a jar to watch it and a 2 mm long Pseudoscorpion detached from the fly during the night. These are usually predators of other small arthropods but are also known to be phoretic on insects. I've found them under the wings of both large scarabs and Passalid beetles. This the first time I have ever found one on a fly! Family Stratiomyidae, Subfamily Sarginae..
Habitat:
Came to an ultraviolet light in the garden, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.
Notes:
It's agitated behavior may have been due to the presence of the pseudoscorpion attached to his thorax.
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