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May 5, 2016 2:34 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Melanie
Lutz, Florida (Zone 9b)
Butterflies Enjoys or suffers hot summers Hummingbirder Birds Bee Lover Bookworm
Region: Florida Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Bromeliad Native Plants and Wildflowers Plant Identifier Salvias
Okay, you guys know I'm a butterfly gardener and I'm always keen to know who is friend and who is foe. This guy is definitely foe as he has a Dainty Sulphur in his mouth!!! Grumbling I don't recall seeing these before, but there are a lot of them this year. Whatever they are, perhaps this is just a good year for them and I never noticed before now? They do fly very fast which explains why it was able to catch a Sulphur and why I couldn't step on it. So what is it?

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May 5, 2016 3:07 PM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
Bee Lover Plant Identifier Organic Gardener Dragonflies I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
Cat Lover Garden Photography Butterflies Birds Spiders!
It's a Robber Fly in the family Asilidae. Females need the protein for their eggs.

I would say it's a Machimus species but they are difficult to get to species.

http://plaza.ufl.edu/dcollins/...
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May 5, 2016 3:08 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Melanie
Lutz, Florida (Zone 9b)
Butterflies Enjoys or suffers hot summers Hummingbirder Birds Bee Lover Bookworm
Region: Florida Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Bromeliad Native Plants and Wildflowers Plant Identifier Salvias
It robbed me of one of my butterflies! Crying But thanks for the ID. It's always good to know the enemy.
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May 5, 2016 3:13 PM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
Bee Lover Plant Identifier Organic Gardener Dragonflies I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
Cat Lover Garden Photography Butterflies Birds Spiders!
I know, it's sad!

They will eat other flies and robberflies too.

It's gruesome when you see a freshly caught fly struggling to escape, with a feeding tube stuck in it slowly being sucked dry.
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May 5, 2016 3:30 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Melanie
Lutz, Florida (Zone 9b)
Butterflies Enjoys or suffers hot summers Hummingbirder Birds Bee Lover Bookworm
Region: Florida Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Bromeliad Native Plants and Wildflowers Plant Identifier Salvias
Wow, that's quite a visual. Blinking
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May 6, 2016 12:26 PM CST
Name: Linda Williams
Medina Co., TX (Zone 8a)
Organic Gardener Bookworm Enjoys or suffers hot summers Charter ATP Member Salvias Herbs
Bluebonnets Native Plants and Wildflowers Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Forum moderator Purslane Hummingbirder
Robberflies are pretty common here and this is probably about the time I usually start seeing them, they emerge from the ground where they overwinter as larva. They'll perch on something vertical where they can see everything. I often see them clutching their prey...most any insect they can get.
http://texasnature.blogspot.co...
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
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May 6, 2016 12:33 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Melanie
Lutz, Florida (Zone 9b)
Butterflies Enjoys or suffers hot summers Hummingbirder Birds Bee Lover Bookworm
Region: Florida Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Bromeliad Native Plants and Wildflowers Plant Identifier Salvias
I have seen them perching on some of my plants. That's the only butterfly I saw that became a victim, fortunately.

I think I saw another one but I didn't want to confuse the post with two different insects, if they were. Is this also a Robber Fly?

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May 6, 2016 3:25 PM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
Bee Lover Plant Identifier Organic Gardener Dragonflies I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
Cat Lover Garden Photography Butterflies Birds Spiders!
Yes that is a Robberfly, from the appendage on the tail end it looks to be a male.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...
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May 6, 2016 4:39 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Melanie
Lutz, Florida (Zone 9b)
Butterflies Enjoys or suffers hot summers Hummingbirder Birds Bee Lover Bookworm
Region: Florida Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Bromeliad Native Plants and Wildflowers Plant Identifier Salvias
Ooh, then I've been seeing quite a few of them. Thumbs down
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