Deadly Embrace
by Gary Yeoh
Was out photographing Iris japonica at Aoyoma cemetery in Tokyo and saw this hoverfly (Syrphidae) on the petal of the flower. All of the sudden, this robber fly descended and grabbed the hoverfly in a deadly embrace. The robber fly landed on this iris bud and proceeded to inject toxins/enzymes into the hover fly, first into the thorax and later into the abdomen as shown in this picture. You can actually see the faint proboscis in the abdominal cavity (just below the hind leg of the hover fly).
D90 Nikkor 105mm iso 640 F11 1/25 sec, early morning sunlight with reflected fill light using a piece of A4 white paper, tripod cable release. Thanks for looking and C&C appreciated.
Comments
21 comments- Luke
Great detail on the insects.
The BG is not ideal, to me, but an excellent shot nontheless.
Sandy r
Mauro
Congrats
D&L
Sandy r
Killer shot
Neil