It's a Small-headed Fly from South Africa! - Observation of the Week, 4/26/20

Our Observation of the Week is Psilodera fasciata small-headed fly, seen in South Africa by @cecileroux!

Cecile wrote a wonderful little piece for this week, so I’ve decided to publish it here in full. I’ve added some links to her text and appended a paragraph about this remarkable family of flies. Enjoy! - Tony


I was lucky to be born into a family that loves nature. I have always loved being immersed in nature, watching, listening, appreciating. My mother studied Entomology, but I only started following in her footsteps when my husband gifted me a camera with a macro lens. I was immediately hooked! 

Shortly after getting the camera, I was introduced to iNat by a botanist friend, @steve_cousins, who has since sadly passed away. He was doing his doctorate on our critically endangered Renosterveld, and while he studied the vegetation, I followed and started to record the infinite variety of insects and spiders in some of the few remaining veld remnants in the Swartland. We talked about pollination, and the importance of bees, and as I watched the flowers, I was amazed to see the variety of pollinators. I realised that not all that buzzes are bees, and started to look closely, and that is how I first came to know the small-headed fly, Psilodera fasciata. Along with the Bombyliidae family, they are some of my favourite flies, and I am grateful that they seem to like my rather unkempt indigenous garden, where I found this one. One needs patience to photograph these flies, they take ages to decide where to settle down. But the patience and sore knees and dirty elbows are always worth it!  Lockdown is made better by the company of all the insects and spiders in my garden.

Currently some friends and I are endeavouring to record the abundance of life on Kasteelberg, the mountain guarding over our village. The renosterveld and fynbos vegetation, the birds, small mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. I am at my happiest when I am out in the veld, discovering and observing. My main interest is spiders, but I am captivated by every small thing that moves! The best part of observing the small life around me, is being amazed and excited almost every day, a wonderful privilege in a jaded world. So much to discover still! Apart from my own pleasure, I also hope to teach people through my photos that insects are not pests, and spiders are not to be feared.

I am not a scientist, and field guides, although invaluable, can go only so far. I find iNaturalist a wonderful site where like-minded and knowledgeable people from all over the world become teachers. I am learning so much, and appreciate every ID and discussion.


Psilodera fasciata is a member of the Acroceridae family, known commonly as small-headed flies or spider flies, which contains about 500 species around the world. While the inspiration for “small-headed” is obvious from Cecile’s photo, “spider flies” refers to this family’s predilection for parasitizing our eight-legged friends. Female Acrocerids lay hundreds or even thousands of eggs. Hatchling larvae seek out spiders and make their way to the host’s insides, consuming it from within then pupating outside of the host’s depleted body. Adults feed on nectar and often possess enormous proboscises, as Cecile photographed here. When not in use, the fly tucks this proboscis under its body, and you can sometimes see it protruding past its rear end.

- Speaking of egg laying, check out an Acrocerid doing just that - in slow motion!

- Here’s one with an insanely long proboscis, photographed by bernardo_segura.

Posted on 27 de abril de 2020, 04:56 AM by tiwane tiwane

Comentários

So cool! Beautiful submission.

Publicado por muir quase 4 anos antes

That's Great finding......!

Publicado por thilinahettiarachchi quase 4 anos antes

Congratulations

Publicado por roby quase 4 anos antes

Lovely piece, Cecile.
Your iNat observations are a treasure chest.

Publicado por wynand_uys quase 4 anos antes

Long proboscid flies: we have a project for them in the Cape: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/rhinomyiophily-s-afr
Lovely work Cecila!

Publicado por tonyrebelo quase 4 anos antes

Congrats Cecile – couldn't agree with you more re the wonderful world of tiny creatures and the Swartland has só much to offer in this regard. Great initiative to record Kasteelberg's biodiversity – enjoy!

Publicado por oswaldkurten quase 4 anos antes

Thank you Cecile. Connections to nature are keeping us sane - or as sane as possible! Also, strangely, these connections bring a wee upsurge in creativity, whether directed at nature itself, photography or drawing, say, or at making the meals as much of a pleasure as you reasonably can.

Publicado por mags49 quase 4 anos antes

Wonderful piece! Would love to see what a parasitized spider is like.

Publicado por janetwright quase 4 anos antes

Wow cool looking :)

Publicado por carolr quase 4 anos antes

What a charming fly! Great photo :)

Publicado por botanicaltreasures quase 4 anos antes

Nature never ceases to amaze. I love this fly!

Publicado por jfkfoxy quase 4 anos antes

Wonderful capture and story. And that sure is one long proboscis! I too am enjoying isolation time finding different bugs and insects in my own garden, I'm amazed everyday! It's amazing what you find if you go looking.

Publicado por dlync quase 4 anos antes

What a wild looking fly! It is cute. It looks like something that should be made into a Disney movie.

Publicado por walkingstick2 quase 4 anos antes

Really an amazing fly, a great pic, and a great piece of writing too. Thanks so much for teaching us about it all.

Publicado por susanhewitt quase 4 anos antes

Although we know it's a fly, my son saw this and thought it should be called the ObesiBee. He likes puns.

Publicado por dvanoverbeke quase 4 anos antes

That is so interesting, thank you so much for sharing. I think I photographed these at the weekend - not too successfully, as they are never still!

Publicado por debbiebodley quase 4 anos antes

Congratulations, great find and article.....can't wait to do again what keeps you sane: being out observing...!

Publicado por tjeerddw quase 4 anos antes

Wonderful vignette, thanks for sharing! I have to confess, when I saw the words "small-headed fly," I instantly thought of the American classic, "Small-headed Flycatcher. Seen Yesterday. He Didn't Leave His Name." by the contemporary nature writer Pete Dunne. "Small-headed Fly" (English-speaking American and Canadian birdwatchers often shorten "flycatcher" to "fly"), written in the late 20th century, is one of the strangest and most wondrous specimens of nature writing I've ever encountered, a work of fiction, indeed fantasy, yet one that leaves you at the end saying to yourself, "Wait. Maybe that DID happen after all..."

Publicado por floydted quase 4 anos antes

What an unusual fly!A spectacular photo.

Publicado por entoloris quase 4 anos antes

beautiful photo!

Publicado por mklubi7555 quase 4 anos antes

hermosa foto !!!

Publicado por eduardoingani quase 4 anos antes

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