Stilted legs and laced borders

I saw a couple of interesting insects on this morning’s walk with Beauregard. The first was an aggregation of stilt-legged flies (family Micropezidae) on the trunk of a standing dead white oak (Quercus alba). This particular species—Calobatina geometra—is one of several occurring in Missouri, none of which have a common name and most appearing to mimic parasitic wasps of the family Ichneumonidae. Whether this is purposeful or happenstance is not clear to me, but the resemblance is…

Source: Beetles In The Bush