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Tiger beetle from Papua with tiny fly -
Zandloopkever uit Papua met minuscule vlieg
-
Therates basalis

Image ID:
1654
Date: 
16/07/2012
Location: 
Nimbokrang,
West Papua,
Indonesia
Description: 

On the pciture one can clearly notice a tiny fly on the head of the beetle. It is probably a form of cleptoparasitism. Even when the Tiger Beetle moved, the tiny fly still seemed to follow the beetle. That's why I think it wasn't coincidence and that the fly didn't just accidentelly landed on the beetles head. It probably feeds on food rests of the prey captured by the tiger beetle, which is a form of cleptoparasitism.
This tropcial tiger beetle is an arboreal species. Papua holds an amazing diversity of Tiger beetles, no less then 64 species are known to science today. This is more then twice as much as in entire Europe, where all the tiger beetles are typical ground-dwellers.
Determination has still to be checked by a specialist.

Keywords: 
ground beetle |
tiger beetle |
tropical tiger beetle |
cicindela |
Therates |
therates basalis |
loopkever |
zandloopkever |
tropische zandloopkever |
boombewonend |
arboreal |
tropical |
lowland |
rainforest |
tropical rainforest |
lowland rainforest |
swamp forest |
alluvial forest |
Nimbokrang |
West Papua |
Indonesia |
New Guinea |
tropisch |
laagland |
regenwoud |
laaglandregenwoud |
tropisch regenwoud |
alluviaal bos |
moerasbos
Category: 
Ground Beetles |
Cicindelini - Tiger Beetles |
Places |
New Guinea and Pacific Islands |
West Papua, Indonesia |
Nimbokrang
Image type: 
Digital
Link to image:
http://bernardvanelegem.com/image/tiger-beetle-papua-tiny-fly

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