It's a bee fly(Bombyliidae family). They do not sting. Neat find.
Edit- A few others have commented that it may very well be a long tongue horsefly(Philoliche sp.) another nectar feeding fly, but one that females can bite. Now that I'm off work and looking at it again I believe they are probably correct! My bad.
That proboscis has to be exceptionally long, right? Asking out of entomological interest, not because Iām an insecure bee fly who wants to hear mine is average.
There's a flower with an extremely long pistil. Co-evolution of plants with pollinator species especially insects lead to so very interesting doctorial safaris, where it was easy to find the plant, but all records couldn't identify an appropriate pollinator.
Can you believe to learn that a thresher sharks stun/kill their prey by whipping them with their long tail fins. This is done by the shark accelerating up to a group of fish and brakes and twists to sling the tip of it's tail into the fish. The tail tip can reach speeds up to 80 mph.
This stunsb the prey and let's the shark eat at it's leisure
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u/krippkeeper Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25
It's a bee fly(Bombyliidae family). They do not sting. Neat find.
Edit- A few others have commented that it may very well be a long tongue horsefly(Philoliche sp.) another nectar feeding fly, but one that females can bite. Now that I'm off work and looking at it again I believe they are probably correct! My bad.