Marsh Snipefly Rhagio tringarius “At Prayer”

I had seen one of these flies in my garden recently. It was jumping, not flying, from leaf to leaf fairly deep in the foliage of a shrub. I didn’t get good images.

Then, on a warm but cloudy day, with many insects active, I found this one on blackcurrant bushes.

These images document a strange behaviour which it exhibited on one leaf which was below the outer leaves. It remained on this leaf for several minutes.

After it had been there a short while it went into a repetitive routine. It would bend its front legs suddenly, bringing its mouth region into, or almost into, contact with the upper surface of the leaf. It remained in this pose for many seconds, apparently doing nothing. It would then, very briefly (less than a second) raise its head and body to about horizontal, turn a few degrees anticlockwise, and swiftly drop into the head-down position again. I did not count the number of repetitions of this but there must have been ten or more. Eventually, it moved onto an adjacent leaf and performed a few more dips.

I have been unable to find a published description of this behaviour.

Olympus EM-1, Kiron 105mm, f16 ISO 800, twin TTL flash, hand-held.

Harold