NEW ZEALAND has its share of extraordinary invertebrates. Fiordland's
bat-winged fly (Exsul singularis) is probably no less rare than the kakapo or remarkable than the kiwi. It has the body size of a house fly, with black, solar-powered, pantaloonshaped wings as big as a butterfly's. It is carnivorous and changes its form of flight from that of a fly to one which mimics a butterfly. This allows it to enter the territories of small alpine butterflies, where it captures and eats them.
ALL PHOTOS BY ROD MORRIS
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Forest and Bird, Issue 268, 1 May 1993, Page 11
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87NEW ZEALAND has its share of extraordinary invertebrates. Fiordland's bat-winged fly (Exsul singularis) is probably no less rare than the kakapo or remarkable than the kiwi. It has the body size of a house fly, with black, solar-powered, pantaloonshaped wings as big as a butterfly's. It is carnivorous and changes its form of flight from that of a fly to one which mimics a butterfly. This allows it to enter the territories of small alpine butterflies, where it captures and eats them. ALL PHOTOS BY ROD MORRIS Forest and Bird, Issue 268, 1 May 1993, Page 11
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