Ted Kinsman is a scientific photographer that specializes in creating images for books, magazines, and television. His particular areas of interest are in x-ray radiography, high-speed photography, Scanning electron microscopy, and time-lapse cinematography. His work has appeared in numerous books and magazines ranging from Discover Magazine to Forbes. Recently his work has appeared on Gray's Anatomy and CSI New York. In addition to running 
B.N. (Bobbie) Sullivan has a strong affinity for the sea and everything in it. She first learned to dive in 1970 and has since logged thousands of dives. A wish to document the marine life she encountered prompted her to learn underwater photography more than 20 years ago. More recently, she began to write about the marine life she has photographed. A research psychologist by profession, she approaches her subject matter with the mindset of a scientist, but targets her writing to a general readership in whom she hopes to foster an appreciation for the ocean and its inhabitants.
B Jefferson Bolender is Training Coordinator of the State of Arizona's
program for disability awareness and assistive technology. Through
her travels she always has a camera at hand to photograph everything
from people to technology and nature. As a teacher of elementary
education, special education and art, her interests include a wide
array of subject matter with an emphasis on documentation with an
artist's eye.
Steve Jurvetson enjoys rocketry and photography and especially the pursuit of both in the Black Rock Desert. Some action photos and video links can be found 
Alex Wild is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he works on the molecular phylogenetics of various groups of insects. He is also a part-time photographer whose images appear in such venues as Ranger Rick, Smithsonian, BBC Wildlife, and even ScienceBlogs.
Last July, while wandering about the coastal forests of St. Lucia in eastern South Africa, I happened across an intriguing scene half-way up a spiny Acacia trunk. Some diminutive gray flies were pestering a trail of ants as they walked along the tree.
The flies' exact activities were hard to observe with the naked eye, but it looked like nothing I'd ever seen. They seemed to be grabbing ants, pinning them to the trunk, and after a few seconds letting them go again.
The macro lens on my camera serves as a handy field microscope. Conveniently, the flies were so focused on attacking the ants I could place the lens nearly on top of them and observe the details of their activities without spooking them. On inspection, it turned out that the flies were stealing food.
Later, I sent my photos to milichiid expert Irina Brake. She identified the perpetrators as Milichia patrizii, a species whose behavior had not been previously recorded. So we wrote up a short article in African Invertebrates that came out today. As the paper is behind a subscription barrier I'll share a few of the photos here.
Stalking the victims.
The flies stop the ants by grasping the ants' antennae between their own. According to Irina, this use of antennae to subdue other insects is entirely new for flies.
The fly triggers an automatic regurgitation response by tapping the ant's palps with her proboscis. Oddly enough, once the ant has acquiesced the fly releases her victim's antenna and the ant just sits there. There may be a chemical communication going on between the tip of the ants antennae and the concave upper lip of the fly, but we don't know. Might be a project of interest to a South African student. If any are reading this. Hint, hint, hint.
The ants leave themselves open to kleptoparasitism by having a highly stereotyped food exchange behavior. Here, two of the Crematogaster demonstrate how it is supposed to be done. The flies have apparently figured out how to game the ants' own communication system.
Source: Wild, A.L. & Brake, I. 2009. Field observations on Milichia patrizii ant-mugging flies (Diptera: Milichiidae: Milichiinae) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. African Invertebrates 50 (1): 205-212.
Life Science
Comments
Fascinating. Amazing shots too, I like the iridescence displayed on the flies' wings.
Posted by: MattK | May 4, 2009 10:28 PM
Wow. Just -- wow!
Posted by: Julie Stahlhut | May 4, 2009 10:48 PM
I am (very probably) heading to South Africa in about 11 weeks. Up till today, I had never even thought twice about a macro lens for the trip... now I am thinking about auctioning off a kidney on ebay to get one. Got anything used you want to sell? Nikon?
Didn't think so.
Very very cool pics. And congrats on the discovery!
Posted by: Anon | May 4, 2009 11:09 PM
Very very cool. And amazing photos!
Posted by: Abby | May 4, 2009 11:49 PM
Fantastic photographs, as usual.
I spent half and hour on my hands and knees yesterday, trying to photograph ants in my backyard, with little success. Maybe I could import some of these flies to hold them down for me?
Posted by: Adrian Thysse, FCD | May 5, 2009 12:52 AM
thats a fantastic one. cool pics indeed.
Posted by: lemson | May 5, 2009 3:05 AM
Wow, that is so amazing.
Posted by: liudvikas | May 5, 2009 4:10 AM
Wow, that is so amazing.
Posted by: liudvikas | May 5, 2009 4:22 AM
Wow, that is so amazing.
Posted by: liudvikas | May 5, 2009 4:22 AM
Wow, that is so amazing.
Posted by: liudvikas | May 5, 2009 5:01 AM
Im speechless....And here i was thinking humans were the only life form capable of such!!
Posted by: Phindile | May 5, 2009 5:50 AM
Great photographs!
Posted by: The Science Pundit | May 5, 2009 7:48 AM
Very Cool Alex.
Posted by: Clay Bolt | May 5, 2009 9:21 AM
Truly incredible! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Posted by: Glen | May 5, 2009 10:56 AM
Phindile's speechlessness makes up for liudvikas's logorrhea, I suppose.
My own comment was already reflected by Adrian. How do you do it?!
Posted by: James C. Trager | May 5, 2009 3:17 PM
The words I would have used are already taken, so I'll make up WowMazing! Fascinating behaviour, fascinating basis for it and stunning photos. Not only are the bugs beautifully portrayed but even the bark is gorgeous.
Is that bark typical of the type of tree?
Posted by: Mike from Ottawa | May 5, 2009 10:43 PM
That's a fantastic find, well done
Posted by: Jim | May 7, 2009 10:05 AM
Well done! This will definitely be included in lessons on animal behvior in my AP Biology class, you shall be acknowledged of course!!
Posted by: Sharon | May 8, 2009 11:08 AM
Does anyone have any information on subscribing to the publication African Invertbrates? I tried to send a request and my e-mail was returned.
Posted by: Sharon | May 8, 2009 11:18 AM
What lens did you use and what camera? love the pics. great story.
Tal
Posted by: Tal | May 9, 2009 12:43 PM
really cool, and always interesting to see what bloggers are publishing.
Posted by: solanum | May 9, 2009 2:26 PM
Tal: These were all taken with the Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens, on a Canon 20D dSLR.
Posted by: Alex | May 9, 2009 5:53 PM
Good reminder tha humans aren't the only ones on this planet who have learned how to hack... wow
Posted by: Jack | May 9, 2009 10:10 PM
I love it when ordinary observation in the field nets a discovery for a sharp-eyed person who cares to look. Good for you! It's especially nice that this is brand new.
Posted by: Monado | May 11, 2009 12:07 AM
Amazing! I'm glad someone sent me a link to this... So much to study still...
Posted by: Gil | May 11, 2009 1:21 PM
Fascinating and well recorded. I seem to remember reading, some years ago, about a mosquito, in SE Asia I think, of the genus Harpagomyia that does something similar, only it actually inserts its proboscis into the ant's crop, again the ant is a Crematogaster species. It would be nice to know of other occurences of flies, or other insects taking advantage of ants in this sort of way, or to know if other genera of ants are similarly effected.
Posted by: Gordon Ramel | June 1, 2009 11:11 AM