{"id":145,"date":"2010-04-10T06:42:32","date_gmt":"2010-04-10T13:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thaibugs.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=145"},"modified":"2010-04-10T06:42:32","modified_gmt":"2010-04-10T13:42:32","slug":"robber-flies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/?page_id=145","title":{"rendered":"Facts about robber flies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/69.93.146.30\/~thaibugs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Asilidae-genus-Laphria-in-the-tribe-Laphriini1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-380\" title=\"Asilidae genus Laphria , in the tribe Laphriini1\" src=\"http:\/\/thaibugs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Asilidae-genus-Laphria-in-the-tribe-Laphriini1-300x217.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Asilidae-genus-Laphria-in-the-tribe-Laphriini1-300x217.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Asilidae-genus-Laphria-in-the-tribe-Laphriini1.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Facts about robber flies<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The  most commonly seen robber flies are dark in color, but some common types are  orange. Several species even mimic bumble bees, with black and yellow  stripes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Larval  and adult robber flies are predators of other insects, and are famous for their  ability to capture prey in the air. In fact, robber flies will often catch  insects that are larger than themselves, such as bumble bees.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Robber  flies will occasionally bite humans, but they are not blood feeders, and will  only bite on accident or if provoked.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Kokopelli, an important figure  from Native American folklore, is partly named after &#8220;pelli,&#8221; a word for the  desert robber fly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Over 400 genera [now 530] and subgenera have been  proposed and\u00a0 7,003 species are known.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The robber fly  has a beak enclosing a dagger-like shaft used to stab its victim in the head or  thorax and inject a fluid which kills it. This fluid soon causes the victim&#8217;s  &#8220;insides&#8221; to become liquid and the robber fly then proceeds to suck it dry,  leaving nothing but an empty shell. They obviously need counselling. (someone  said they should be called the IRS fly).<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;\">A robber  fly&#8217;s beak tip is covered with stiff bristles, designed to secure it  within the wound it creates.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;\">Most victims  are captured mid-flight. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;\">The female  robber fly fequently rejects the amorous attention of a male, seizing  and eating him instead.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Robber flies inject a toxin containing neurotoxic and proteolytic enzymes. The victim  will be almost immediately paralyzed and the toxins will work on the  body to liquefy the flesh. The Robber fly will then use its proboscis to  suck out the resulting soup.<\/li>\n<li>Robber flies are capable of killing bees, other flies, beetles, butterflies, ants, dragonflies, grasshoppers and  some spiders, which they will usually attack before the arachnid has had  the chance to finish weaving its web.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.geller-grimm.de\/general.htm\" target=\"_blank\">read more facts on this excellent site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facts about robber flies The most commonly seen robber flies are dark in color, but some common types are orange. Several species even mimic bumble bees, with black and yellow stripes. Larval and adult robber flies are predators of other insects, and are famous for their ability to capture prey in the air. In fact, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":39,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thaibugs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}