I will admit to being a bit nervous when I got close to photograph this fly. It was large for a fly, and it had a vicious look about it that reminded me of deer flies and their nasty bites. But it turns out this particular species, the red-footed cannibalfly (Promachus rufipes), a type of robberfly, doesn’t care much for chasing people. Instead, it prefers to perch itself on branches or leaves or other surfaces watching the world around it and waiting, patiently waiting, until another insect flies by. When that happens the cannibalfly launches itself and quickly grabs the other insect, sometimes larger than itself, out of the air. It then calmly finds another perch where it’ll eat its meal, injecting it with digestive enzymes to liquify the internals, similar to spiders.

Do be careful around these, though. They may not be drawn to humans but if you agitate it too much you might be in for a surprise as it can still bite. This one was very calm and wasn’t concerned with my presence no matter how close I approached it. Perhaps it was sleeping. But when I approached another one later in the hike it took flight and buzzed around me before settling back to the same perch. It just wanted to give me a warning. I took it and backed off. They really do have a loud buzz so getting close and then suddenly having it spring at me was a bit startling. 🙂

Below is a zoomed in closeup of the red-footed cannibalfly. I believe this may be a female based on the shape of the ovipositor, which has the look of a stinger but isn’t one. These flies don’t sting, they only bite. And as mentioned, they’re not keen on biting people unless you really aggravate them.

Have you ever seen one of these large flies?

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