Author Gary Taylor ◦
If only all little natives were as calm as this gorgeous girl 🙂 Meroglossa rubricata… and now if they could just all line up on a twig and take turns landing on the only flower I have in full sunlight, but out of the howling southerly today, that’d be really handy too 😄 I’ve noticed that if you do get too close tho’ she drops from the flower rather than fly away. Great tactic, she drops through the leaves below but doesn’t hit the ground, somewhere in between she lands? Takes off? Dunno, but you don’t see which way she goes, she just disappears… 🙂
The Meroglossa rubricata’s has a really cool tactic of dropping off the flower if she feels threatened rather than fly off. If she’s higher up the flower or tucked in amongst it she will tuck her down side legs under and do an awesome “Commando roll” off or out of the flower, dropping through the leaves below and it’s so quick. She doesn’t hit the ground but you don’t see which way she goes either… After countless hours of watching I’ve finally seen it! And now I know, that’s because she does a super cool high speed flip as she goes through the leaves and for the tiniest fraction of a second she hovers flying upside down and then lands upwards on the underside of one of the leaves… Awesome…
No commando roll for this one this today, just enjoying the warm weather of the late afternoon rays…
Check out the other blogs in this Meroglossa rubricata series:
an awesome “Commando roll” | Ruby… bubbling | Ruby and the wasp | Party at the nest | red is the weakest, the first to fade in low light | A white bubble
See our Fauna section on Bees for more info on our gorgeous Meroglossa rubricata.
Footnote & References
- Blogs by Gary Taylor, Images © Gary Taylor