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Self-portrait with Pangoniinae
I'm a big fan of the entomophagy movement but this post isn't about including insects in human diets, rather, it's the other way around.  I was pleased to see Morgan Jackson's post on deer flies; not only for the interesting read and beautiful flies, but also because it's nice to be reminded that there are other folks out there who are [insert adjective] enough to let an insect bite or sting them out of curiosity or for a nice portrait session.

I'm pretty sure that Morgan's photo was more painful than mine; as he mentions, most biting flies in the family Tabanidae use their serrated knife-like mandibles to painfully cut skin, and then drink up the blood.  Flies in the primitive subfamily Pangoniinae, however, are well adapted for feeding on nectar deep within flowers.  This one's long narrow proboscis inflicted little pain when it did bite.  Still, watching the fly work its far-reaching mouthparts into my knee was a little disconcerting:
This is the opposite of entomophagy
 One thing is clear from all these tabanid photos: The world is in need of some insect photographers with slightly less body hair.

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