Mar 16, 2010

Robberfly vs. Dragonfly

In an aerial maneuver any ace fighter pilot would be proud of, this robberfly (Triorla interrupta) took this male dragonfly (Common Whitetail) on the wing, midair, and bore him to the ground. After about a minute of buzzing and flailing and tumbling about, the robberfly ended up on top, and the dragonfly with his innards being sucked out.

Robberflies are able to take out prey quite a bit larger than them. Just goes to show: it's not the size of the fly in the fight, it's the size of the fight that's in the fly. Try saying that ten times fast.

Photo source: Thomas Shahan (opoterser)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

People try to tell me these are robber flies and not mosquitoes. fact is thats a lie, no matter what you call them they are still a type of mosquitoe. They bite people often and drink blood, and they feel like u got hit by a small truck when they do it too.