Physocephala tibialis, back, scarpulla , virginia
If you are a bumble bee (how fascinating if you were...) this fly would be your worst nightmare. You be flying along, warmed by the sun as you joyfully gathered pollen and nectar from flowers, then Wham, this fly, about half your size, would latch onto you and with the tip of its abdomen force itself between your abdominal segments and insert its egg. Later, that egg would hatch, crawl inside you and gradually eat you alive, but yet, you could do nothing about it. Ultimately you would perish, alone, burying yourself as commanded by your parasite, perhaps suffering some sort of existential realignment with yourself before you go, perhaps not. Another casualty of the cruelness that is Nature. This unremorseful, unempathetic killer, Physocephala tibialis,was captured by Gene Scarpulla in Virginia.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know
" Ode on a Grecian Urn"
John Keats. Original public domain image from Flickr