found this super cool syrphid fly in the campus teaching collection. it looks like it might be an Osmia mason bee mimic, which blows my mind. unfortunately it didn’t have an ID or collection label, so my best guess is Microdon piperi, a nest parasite of carpenter ants in the pacific northwest
Microdon are so fucking cool. check out these photos of the larvae of a related species inside an ant nest (source):
Yeah these are like the perfect animal to me but unfortunately I would have to have a big ant colony for a pet in order to have these flawless dome maggots as pets and then everyone is gonna think I just meant to have the ants or that the ants are the main pet and I’d have to explain every time that they’re just there so my Microdon have baby ants to eat and what’s the point if you have to explain it???
Cakes & Medicine 