Editing Fly (section)

===Anti-predator adaptations===

{{Further|Anti-predator adaptation}}

[[File:Grosser Wollschweber Bombylius major.jpg|thumb|The large bee-fly, ''[[Bombylius major]]'', is a [[Batesian mimic]] of bees.]]

Flies are eaten by other animals at all stages of their development. The eggs and larvae are parasitised by other insects and are eaten by many creatures, some of which specialise in feeding on flies but most of which consume them as part of a mixed diet. Birds, bats, frogs, lizards, dragonflies and spiders are among the predators of flies.<ref name=Collins>{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Robert |title=What eats flies for dinner? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR_KmAEACAAJ |year=2004 |publisher=Shortland Mimosa |isbn=978-0-7327-3471-8}}</ref> Many flies have evolved [[mimicry|mimetic resemblances]] that aid their protection. [[Batesian mimicry]] is widespread with many hoverflies resembling bees and wasps,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gilbert |first1=Francis |title=The evolution of imperfect mimicry in hoverflies |url=http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/96/1/ImperfectMimicry.pdf |publisher=CABI |date=2004 |access-date=27 July 2016 |archive-date=17 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117175346/http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/96/1/ImperfectMimicry.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/beheco/arn148 |title=Do hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) sound like the Hymenoptera they morphologically resemble? |journal=Behavioral Ecology |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=396–402 |year=2008 |last1=Rashed |first1=A. |last2=Khan |first2=M. I. |last3=Dawson |first3=J. W. |last4=Yack |first4=J. E. |last5=Sherratt |first5=T. N.|doi-access=free }}</ref> ants<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1076/snfe.37.1.19.2114 |title=Male-male agonistic behavior and ant-mimicry in a Neotropical richardiid (Diptera: Richardiidae) |journal=Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment |volume=37 |pages=19–22 |year=2002 |last1=Pie |first1=Marcio R. |last2= Del-Claro |first2=Kleber|s2cid=84201196 }}</ref> and some species of tephritid fruit fly resembling spiders.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/aesa/81.3.532 |title=Spider mimicry in fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): Further experiments on the deterrence of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) by ''Zonosemata vittigera'' (Coquillett) |journal=Annals of the Entomological Society of America |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=532–536 |year=1988 |last1=Whitman |first1=D. W. |last2=Orsak |first2=L. |last3=Greene |first3=E.}}</ref> Some species of hoverfly are [[myrmecophilous]]—their young live and grow within the nests of ants. They are protected from the ants by imitating chemical odours given by ant colony members.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Ant hosts of ''Microdon'' (Diptera: Syrphidae) in the Pacific Northwest | first1=Roger D. |last1= Akre | first2=William B. |last2=Garnett |first3=Richard S. |last3= Zack | journal=Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society | volume=63 | issue=1 |year=1990 | pages=175–178 | jstor=25085158 }}</ref> Bombyliid bee flies such as ''[[Bombylius major]]'' are short-bodied, round, furry, and distinctly bee-like as they visit flowers for nectar, and are likely also Batesian mimics of bees.<ref name="Godfray1994">{{cite book |last=Godfray |first=H. C. J. |title=Parasitoids: Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology |url=https://archive.org/details/parasitoidsbehav0000godf |url-access=registration |year=1994 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00047-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/parasitoidsbehav0000godf/page/299 299]}}</ref>

In contrast, ''[[Drosophila subobscura]],'' a species of fly in the genus ''[[Drosophila]]'', lacks a category of hemocytes that are present in other studied species of ''[[Drosophila]]'', leading to an inability to defend against parasitic attacks, a form of innate immunodeficiency.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Eslin |first1=Patrice |last2=Doury |first2=Géraldine |date=2006 |title=The fly Drosophila subobscura: A natural case of innate immunity deficiency |journal=Developmental & Comparative Immunology |volume=30 |issue=11 |pages=977–983 |doi=10.1016/j.dci.2006.02.007 |pmid=16620975}}</ref>