#ochthera

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[revretch]

I think mantisization is more common than carcinization, actually. Nothing on land or in freshwater that really spontaneously evolved into a crab, but lots of things on land (mantidflies, ambush bugs, thread-legged bugs, Ochthera flies, the extinct Titanoptera, even baviine jumping spiders), in freshwater (water bugs, especially water scorpions... even *on* freshwater, counting water striders) and in the ocean (mantis shrimp, skeleton shrimp) that keep evolving into mantises! Even among mammals, silky anteaters have mantis-like claws (though it doesn't use them the same way, but they do have similar sluggishness, and similar threat poses)!

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[timogsilangan]

list of flies ever:

a fucking turtle (celyphidae)

some fucking guy that decided to turn into a vampire spider (nycteribiidae)

this goofy lookinf motherfucker (acroceridae)

guy that decided he wants to do the same shit as mantises (ochthera sp)

HANDLEBAR FACE

(diopsidae)

[foulserpent]

mantis, mantidfly, and mantis fly..... holy trinity of the insect world

[bogleech]

The tiny beach-bum preying mantis of the Diptera

[nunoxaviermoreira]

Predatory Ephydrid by treegrow Ochthera tuberculata. Idylwild Wildlife Management Area, Federalsburg, Delmarva Peninsula, Caroline County, Maryland, USA. https://flic.kr/p/2g711Pi

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Genus: Ochthera

...a genus of shore flies (Ephydridae) sometimes known as "Mantis Flies"  than can be found worldwide, but are mainly restricted to the Old World. Ochthera spp. get their common name due to their distinctive swollen forelegs which resemble those of a mantis. Like a mantis Ochthera spp. are predaceous and will feed on other dipterans using their spiky mantis-like forelegs.

Classification

Animalia-Arthropoda-Insecta-Diptera-Ephydridae-Ochthera

Image: Shyamal

[lostcargosupply]

[revretch]

I'm delighted every time I remember flies of the Ochthera genus just convergently evolved to have mantis claws. They're far from the only insects that have (water bugs, water scorpions, ambush bugs, mantidflies of course), but it's just especially funny to see on what otherwise looks like an unassuming (if prettily striped) housefly.

My husband did an article on them here!

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