Mallophora fautrix
This bee-killer fly has caught a male Melissodes longhorn bee. Austin, Texas, USA.
A bee-killer fly perches in an urban garden. Austin, Texas, USA.
Megaphorus
Robber fly on a perch. Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA
Robber flies are visual predators, and their enormous eyes help them to capture prey in the air. Arizona.
Diogmites
Portrait of a hanging-thief fly, one of the more conspicuous genera of robber flies in North America. Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
A hanging-thief fly. Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
Asilidae
On a cold spring morning, a robber fly warms herself on a rock in the west Texas desert. Comstock, Texas, USA.
Robber fly. Tower Hill, Victoria, Australia.
Holcocephala
A robber fly sits on its perch in a South American cloud forest. These aerial predators have an excellent sense of vision. Mindo, Pichincha, Ecuador.
A small robber fly (Asilidae) perches in an Illinois prairie with freshly-caught aphid prey. Urbana, Illinois, USA
Hadrokolos texanus
A hover fly on its perch. Austin, Texas, USA.
Laphria
Laphria robber flies are convincing mimics of bumble bees. Unlike bees, robber flies are predators. This one has killed a honey bee. Urbana, Illinois, USA
A robber fly sits on its perch in a tropical cloud forest. Mindo, Pichincha, Ecuador.
Scenopinus
Window fly. Austin, Texas, USA.
The large eyes on this window fly indicate a male. Comstock, Texas, USA.
Agapophytus queenslandi
Stiletto fly. Carisbrook Falls, Victoria, Australia.
Ozodiceromyia sp.
A stiletto fly stakes out a patch of meadow. Austin, Texas, USA.
Villa lateralis
Bee fly. Austin, Texas, USA.
Xenox trigrinus
Parasitic Xenox trigrinus bee flies (Bombyliidae) dry their wings after emerging from the carpenter bee burrow where their mother laid eggs. Urbana, Illinois, USA
Neacreotrichus picturata
A small bee fly takes nectar from a Rudbeckia. Austin, Texas, USA.
Poecilognathus
A small bee fly takes nectar from a fall mistflower. Austin, Texas, USA.
Geron
A small bee fly visits a Veronica persica flower. Note the iridescent patterns on the fly's wings. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Texas, USA.
Austin, Texas, USA.
Hemipenthes celeris
The family Bombyliidae can be recognized, in many species, by the distinctive wavy veins near the wingtips. Austin, Texas, USA.
