Lonchoptera bifurcata

California, USA.

Megaselia scalaris

Megaselia scalaris is a small but common insect in human habitats like homes and businesess worldwide, where they feed on food waste, detritus, and other organic matter. This female was collected from compost. Austin, Texas, USA.

Pseudacteon solenopsidis

An Ant-Decapitating Fly (Phoridae, Pseudacteon sp.) attempts to separate a fire ant (Solenopsis macdonaghi) from her nestmates. Lone ants make easier targets. Parque Nacional El Palmar, Argentina

Pseudacteon

A parasitic phorid fly (Pseudacteon sp.) lays her egg in an ant (Linepithema oblongum) in northern Argentina. filename: oblongumphorid1

Phora

A black scuttle fly feeds from bird droppings. Northern California, USA.

Phoridae

Tiny scuttle flies visit a fungus in an Illinois forest. Not the small rider mite under the fly's abdomen.

Apocephalus sp.

An ant-decapitating fly hovers over a carpenter ant nest. Sand Ridge State Forest, Illinois, USA.

Apocephalus sp.

An ant-decapitating fly (Phoridae: Apocephalus sp.) pursues a carpenter ant (Camponotus chromaiodes). If the fly succeeds in laying an egg in the ant, the young larva will consume the ant's tissues, eventually killing it. The fly then crawls into the ant's head capsule, which typically falls off and serves as a protective case for the fly's transition to adulthood. Sand Ridge State Forest, Illinois, USA

Apocephalus sp. (Phoridae)

A parasitic Apocephalus ant-decapitating fly closes on her target, a Camponotus chromaiodes carpenter ant. Sand Ridge State Forest, Illinois, USA

Apocephalus sp.

Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Austin, Texas, USA.

Apocephalus sp.

Within minutes of exposing a Pheidole dentata nest, the parasitic phorid flies are so thick they are essentially tripping over each other to attack the ants. Brackenridge Field Lab, Austin, Texas, USA.

Wingless phorid fly

A wingless phorid fly runs in a column of Eciton vagans army ants. Armenia, Belize. [note: this image is a composite of two photographs taken seconds apart]