Wednesday 16 July 2014

A Face on a Face... 

Can you see the face on the "face" of this thick-headed fly? I don't know about you but it reminds me of Burl Ives (so now you know how old I am). The fly is Physocephala furcillata, a Conopid fly with the colloquial moniker "thick-headed flies" because they frequently have heads that are larger than their body size would suggest. Photo taken July 13 near Debert, NS.

This is Physocephala furcillata in lateral or side view. A wonderful, almost uncanny, resemblance to a thread-waisted wasp, isn't it? Note the halteres (white "knob" projecting from the side of the thorax) that are only found on flies. Photo taken July 13 near Debert, NS.

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