Asilidae, commonly known as robber flies, are a predatory family of flies that feed mainly on other insects. They're called "robbers" because they wait and ambush their prey at night.
Transcript (edited for clarity):
RUDY MANCKE:
Hi, this is Rudy Mancke from USC for NatureNotes.
Kevin sent me a photograph of an insect that was clinging to his river birch tree — you know, the peely bark. I love river birches. But he wanted to know what kind of insect it was. It had this little projection off the tail that he wanted to know about.
What he was looking at is one of the robber flies. And I think they're called that because they rob other insects of their lives. And we have a great diversity of them in South Carolina.
No problem to people, but problems to other insects. And if you ever take a close look at them — I mean, real fuzzy faces, it's very, very interesting.
They grab the insect sometimes from above, stick in a tube, squirt in digestive fluid, and slurp it up.
