Robber Flies, familly Asilidae, are some of the most fierce and able insect predators out there; it is no trouble for a robber fly to pick off another insect in flight. These images feature a variety of different species: some tiny like the Holcocephala sp., bee or wasp mimics adding a layer of cunning, and bigger species with their bushy mystax (the hairy mustache over their piercing proboscis). No robber fly gallery would be complete without evidence of their hunting skills, so there are plenty of predator and prey shots.

Robber flies must be a hulking menace to their smaller, weaker prey.

This Dioctria sp. robber fly has made a meal of a small parasitoid wasp.

A small robber fly (Dioctria sp.) looks a bit of the caped crusader ready to duck out from the edge of a leaf.

Robber fly portrait.

Efferia sp.

Dioctria species of Robber Fly

A wasp mimic robber fly hangs out while feeding on a rose chafer scarab beetle.

A bumblebee mimic robber fly feeds on a jewel beetle, Agrilus ruficollis.

This robber fly’s tiny size belies its fierce predatory nature.

The better to see you with: Holcocephala species of robber fly.

An ogre gnat (a small robber fly) in profile. Holcocephala sp.

A robber fly (Efferia sp., Asilidae) preys on a distant cousin (possible flesh fly, family Sarcophagidae).

A robber fly (Efferia sp.) feeds on a small wasp while standing in a hunched pose in reaction to the camera.

A robber fly has stabbed a snipe fly in the back.

This fairly large robber fly has a neat, “trim” mystax, or “mustache.”

Unbeknownst to whom? Perhaps both the large robber fly as well as the sawfly larva curled up inside the leaf are not aware of each other.

A small robber fly finishes up its meal of a gnat while resting on a rusted hand rail.