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December 31, 2008 by myrmecos

A long-tongued horse fly drinks from a flower in Arizona's Chiricahua mountains

A long-tongued horse fly takes a sip of nectar in Arizona's Chiricahua mountains.

100% crop of the same image.

100% crop of the same image.

photo details: Canon 65mm MP-E 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper

Posted in arizona, Insect Links | Tagged diptera, entomology, Flies, Insects, Nature, Photography | 11 Comments

11 Responses

on December 31, 2008 at 9:58 am goodbear

great shots!
on December 31, 2008 at 10:22 am James C. Trager

100% crop?? Looks like there’s still a small percentage left.
on December 31, 2008 at 10:35 am myrmecos

Yeah, it doesn’t make sense to me either, but that’s standard terminology for a tightly cropped image represented at the original resolution. In other words, I didn’t shrink or re-size the image before cropping it in.
on December 31, 2008 at 1:53 pm Steve Lew

Wow. You, sir, are the man. (I am often moved to leave this comment on your blog, but it seems kinda silly so I usually don’t. But this…)
on January 1, 2009 at 8:33 pm myrmecos

Ha! Thanks, Steve.
on January 1, 2009 at 10:50 pm tcmacrae

Hi Alex,
What’s the scientific name for this thing? The only info I can find for “long-tongued horse fly” is Philoliche aethiopica in South Africa.
Gorgeous photos – I admire your talent!
regards–ted
on January 2, 2009 at 11:27 am myrmecos

Ted- I wish I knew. I’m not even sure that it’s really a Tabanid, although with those antennae I’m not sure what else it could be. Perhaps one of the fine diptera bloggers from NCSU will stop in and give us a hint…
on January 6, 2009 at 7:41 pm Keith Bayless

Esenbeckia, probably E. delta.

It, like almost all other long-tongued horse flies, is in the Pangoniinae, the sister group to the rest of the family. Horseflies with more than 5 annulations on their antennal flagellum (postpedicel) are all pangoniines.
on January 7, 2009 at 8:55 am Ted C. MacRae

Thanks, Keith. I had thought it might be close to this thing. I wasn’t really aware of the subfamily before – looks like we’ve got a few eastern species I can be on the lookout for.
on January 7, 2009 at 8:00 pm myrmecos

Thanks Keith! I should put you on the payroll.
on January 21, 2009 at 5:40 am bug_girl

Great Shot!
And yes, everyone needs a taxonomist on the payroll. 🙂

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