I love walking in nature, lingering in the meadows to peek into the small world where adorable creatures live with impressive habits. Just like humans, insects have more or less the same behavior in some ways. They desire the opposite sex, and sometimes, males compete to win a female to mate with, besides fighting over territory, of course.
Recently I documented the mating season in robber flies and crane flies; they are distant relatives in the order Diptera.
A pair of heavy robber flies were caught mating in the grass. They are classified as Cophinopoda chinensis, which belongs to the genus Asilidae. Heavy robber flies are brutal predators. Strangely enough, they—mainly the females—have a hunting instinct even during mating. The female can carry her mate to ambush prey. This was done when the mating desire was at its peak and I have witnessed that once. Damn it!
A lone heavy robber fly can have two tendencies: that it is either sniffing out prey or that it is looking for a mate. They generally hunt insects that are of their own size or much larger. Grasshoppers, wasps, or bees often end up as their prey.
I found this mating pair in another spot. Nephrotoma appendiculata, commonly known as the spotted crane fly, is a species of crane fly belonging to the family Tipulidae.
The fly resembles a mosquito and has long legs. Its abdomen mimicked a tiger's tail. The crane fly is commonly found in shrubs.
