Conowingo Peacock Fly
"Peacock flies (Callopistromyia annulipes) are members of the large and varied group of picture-winged flies (the Ulidiidae) that includes their two-species genus. They are small (∼4 mm long) and rather pretty, but it is their behaviour, first described over 100 years ago, that makes them so striking for such a small animal. Many videos of dancing peacock flies can be found on-line: in them, mottled flies perform a stuttering sort of dance, with wings held vertically to form striking patch-worked, iridescent-fans, which are moved in an arrhythmic jerking motion as the flies periodically run to and fro."
Info copied from a Current Biology article on cell.com
Photographed by me at Conowingo Dam in Maryland.
Conowingo Peacock Fly
"Peacock flies (Callopistromyia annulipes) are members of the large and varied group of picture-winged flies (the Ulidiidae) that includes their two-species genus. They are small (∼4 mm long) and rather pretty, but it is their behaviour, first described over 100 years ago, that makes them so striking for such a small animal. Many videos of dancing peacock flies can be found on-line: in them, mottled flies perform a stuttering sort of dance, with wings held vertically to form striking patch-worked, iridescent-fans, which are moved in an arrhythmic jerking motion as the flies periodically run to and fro."
Info copied from a Current Biology article on cell.com
Photographed by me at Conowingo Dam in Maryland.