Marsh Snipefly - Rhagio tringariusToday’s post will help to flesh out (pun intended, I regret
Marsh Snipefly - Rhagio tringariusToday’s post will help to flesh out (pun intended, I regret nothing) this insect specie who was previously seen in the early days of the blog and before I found my footing. Back then, it was the first time I found this type of Fly, but since then it hasn’t been so elusive, though it is still rare so consider yourself lucky should you find one by a most environment such as a lake or marsh. It’s not quite as spindly as the Crane Flies, nor is it as bulky and assertive as the larger Robber Flies, but Rhagionids manage to get the best of both worlds and fold them together into one cohesive design. With long and strong legs, ground navigation is easy and their robust bodies allow them to throw their weight if they have to. In this case that may be a great advantage, as this Fly is a female and may need to jab smaller insects to obtain nourishment. Being large helps with the capturing but it’s hard to restrain prey without hairy legs, if any. It’s not much of a biter otherwise, but do exercise caution when handling.It looks like my thoughts in the earlier post were correct. Compared to the male Marsh Snipefly, this female does indeed share the spotted abdomen pattern while also having a smaller head and a wider abdomen. On the former, that’s more of an optical illusion because the eyes aren’t as prominent without being close together and not as far back along the head. An observation like this gives them a commonality with Dance Flies, though not as extreme I have to say. Their form is quite remarkable to behold. I still have yet to find one resting in its characteristic “down-looker” pose as it has been described. Just means I need to search more and that these Flies are well traveled from moist environments to neighborhood gardens. This one likely had a busy day: as she perched on this leaf to rest, she gave her wings and legs a cleaning by rubbing them. These pictures make it look like she’s praying rather than cleaning, but that’s how they do it, big or small. Since they travel to many places on wing, they need to keep their sensory information gatherers clean.Pictures were taken on July 5, 2020 with a Google Pixel 4. -- source link
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