A Drama

Beneath a Common Milkweed leaf, a crab spider has caught a honeybee and is in the process of digesting it from the inside.

But note who else is along for the ride.

There’s a tiny fly on the underside of the bee’s wing. With that bold M(W) on the head, it looks like a Desmometopa genus fly of the freeloader fly family Miclichiidae. According to bugguide.net: “Females are kleptoparasitic and are especially attracted to predatory insects or spiders feeding on honeybees. This habit is observed in places where honeybees are not native (e.g. North America), but it is possible that the species feeding on honeybees are also introduced.”

The Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington (XVII, 1915) states that the flies of this genus “feed upon the juices of freshly killed insects.” This one is literally waiting in the wings to get in on the feast….