A monster in the garden

bumble-bee-asilidThere is a voracious predator in our nature garden at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; luckily it is only about an inch long. It is a “bumble bee robber fly” of the genus Mallophora. It is hanging out on the kangaroo paws in the garden on the east side of the building. It picks off wasps and bees, injects them with venom and digestive enzymes, and sucks them dry. As I said, we can all be thankful that it is only an inch long, but it is beautiful and fun to watch!