May 28, 2018
MICROSCOPE MONDAY
Dance Fly (Chelipoda sp.), Fishers Island NY, August 2016.
Dance flies are so named due to their courtship behavior--insects will swarm in the air and perform aerial maneuvers to lure mates in a sort of dance. Usually the swarming behavior involves just males, although a mix is common as well. Males also tend to offer “nuptial gifts” to females in the form of insect prey they have captured with their enlarged, claw-like front legs. Less successful hunters end up offering the females balls of spittle or silk instead.