Thick-Headed Fly, Conops flavipes by durleybeachbum
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Description
The Yellow-legged Bee Grabber.
Thick-headed Flies are parasitic insects and the larvae feed internally within Bees and Wasps)with some species known to attack Crickets and Grasshoppers. The adults are avid nectar feeders and regularly visit flowers and are good pollinators.
Most Thick-headed Flies wait on or near flowers for their selected host species to arrive. On finding the correct host, they take good hold and pierce the body while in flight, quickly depositing an egg inside.
The egg hatches and the larva feeds off the host's abdominal contents, usually for about 10 days, effectively hollowing it out and filling almost the entire abdominal cavity. The larva pupates inside the host becoming an adult fly the next summer.
Parasitised bees appear to change the behaviour and tend to stay outside the nest more than other workers, often remaining outside even in very cold weather.
This fascinating information from this website <a href="http://www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds2/insectinfocusthickheadedfly.htm"
Comments (14)
jendellas
He is a funny looking critter, great info on them.
Krittermom
Wow! Nature can be harsh.
wysiwig
Such is the saturation of our times that your title made me think of the American voter. Then, your mention of ' Bee Grabber' inevitably brought to mind our president. But the term 'parasitic insects' was the best, a perfect definition of our Congress.
Oh, and the photo is a cracking good shot.
awjay
new one to me...nice pic
X-PaX
Very nice capture Andrea. Thank you for sharing the information also.
photosynthesis
Nice shot - sounds like a good plot line for a horror novel or film. I also got a kick out of wysiwig's political comments...
jayfar
A new one on me and a fantastic shot.
Faemike55
Definitely a reminder of the current political climate in the US.
great capture and description
kgb224
Superb capture Andrea. God bless.
Cyve
What a marvelous closeup !!!
kaward
Just Amazing! A wealth of info and a strange bug I've never seen either!
iborg64 Online Now!
A really splendid macro shot with some interesting information as well
sossy
interesting lesson, dont know this special insect! fantastic capture showing all impressive details 😃
bmac62
Now I know where the Sci-Fi series we are watching got its idea for how the horrifying "Magog" reproduce. At least these critters are good pollinators.