Black and White Giant Fly
Rear, profile
Black and White Giant Fly
Head, dorsal, showing 3 Ocelli
| Black and White Giant Fly Rear, profile | | Black and White Giant Fly Head, dorsal, showing 3 Ocelli | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | ||||
| Family: | Bristle Fly (Tachinidae) | ||||
| Species: | Black and White Giant Fly (Formosia speciosa) | ||||
| This Photo: | Ventral | ||||
General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere This is one HUGE fly. While we're used to Robber flies being longer, they are thin. But this beast is rotund like a blow fly. Thankfully, it wasn't agressive. It's hard to say if it's pure size is what it stand out so much, or the sharp contrast of the balck & white patterns on it's body. But stood out it did! It's always been intrigueing to see the 3 jewels on the top of wasp heads. This is the first time we've seen them on a fly. On searching, they also appear on Hover flies. It seems that they are smaller, and so not visible on small or hairy flies. AHHHH, finally found out. The "3 jewels" as we call them are actually simple eyes, each with a single lens! They are called "Ocelli". Not much is known about them, but they seem to help with detection of the horizon in flight. | |||||
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