Photographed around 6 PM by the side of a county road. More detail is in the
large view (click the magnifying glass). Thanks to Ron Hemberger at Bugguide.Net for steering me toward the Robber fly group of insects, and to Edward Trammel for steering me toward the genus Diogmites.Ron also provided a link to a
Lynnette Schimming's photo, which Herschel Raney narrowed down to either
esuriens or
discolor. I'm assuming this is
Diogmites esuriens (Family Asilidae (Robber Flies)) because
discolor doesn't seem to have the same thorax detail.These are also known as "hanging flies" due to their characteristic habit of dangling by their front pair of legs when feeding.A good guide is also at Raney's site
Random Natural Acts. On
this page he shows the difference between
esuriens and
misellus.
