LET’S DANCE FLY

Male dance flies capture a nice juicy insect as a love offering for a female.  She will eat it while he mates with her.  Females gather in clearings.  There, the females silhouette can show off to her best advantage.  You see, the male will gift his food item to the largest female he can find.  This sounds unfair among females.  However, female dance-flies cheat.  Before the “dance” the female will gup air; puffing herself up to maximize her size.  So yes, in this case the gal is just full of hot air.

My favorite photo of this is at http://onh.eugraph.com/insects/flies/dancefly/index.html