Yesterday I came across a mean scene - of the big profiting off the efforts of the small. It was a scene in the insect world, best seen with a magnifying glass. It introduced me to a term I didn't know before - Kleptoparasitism.
A file of ants moved on a (pheromone) trail across the bench ('meen') in the frontyard, some of them carrying food. They didn't realize they were being 'watched'. A gang of house flies, each positioned a coupla feet apart from each other along the ant trail, stood watching, in stillness. When an ant with food got close, the fly would get animated, and start "stalking" the ant. In short hops and skips, it (the fly) would block the ant's march, and repeatedly do so, until the ant got startled, tired, isolated, and wandered off-course. Then it would attempt grabbing the food, jabbing the food with its proboscis, and a short tug-of-war would ensue - the battle of the proboscis (fly) vs the pedipalps (ants).
The tug would span over multiple wounds until one gave up. Mind you that the ants, though small, are very strong, and it is not so easy for the flies. In the four incidents I observed, the split was 50-50. In one incident, where the ant won, the fly tried thrice, but failed.
Some flies are kleptoparasites, this being especially common in the subfamily Miltogramminae of the family Sarcophagidae. Some adult milichiids, for example, visit spider webs where they scavenge on half-eatenstink bugs. Others are associated with robber flies (Asilidae), or Crematogasterants.[7] Flies in the genus Bengalia (Calliphoridae) steal food and pupae transported by ants and are often found beside their foraging trails.[8]
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