Mind Blowing: Fly seems to have images on its wings

Take a look at this fruit fly which appears to have an image of an ant or a jumping spider on each of its wings. According to the New York Times, the design may actually confuse jumping spiders who regard the images as a potential mate rather than a meal!

Goniurellia tridens is a 3-in-1 insect [photo: Peter Roosenschoon] pic.twitter.com/i8ThAOkrvN

— Ziya Tong (@ziyatong) November 4, 2013

Update, Nov. 8, 6:43 a.m. | * Mark Moffett, the photographer and adventurer best known as Doctor Bugs, sent a convincing note via Facebook asserting that the images on this fly’s wings are jumping spiders, not ants. I’ll be posting afresh with input from him and Brigitte Howarth soon. Here’s the core of his note:

Andrew, as someone who has studied ants for years and also jumping spiders (salticids), I can tell you that that fly has spider images in its wings, not ants. This happens in a variety of species, I’ve even photographed one for National Geographic. Unlike ants, jumping spiders are visual and see their image in the wings, I’ve watched them dance to [an] image (thinking it a mate) rather than eat the prey. – New York Times