Right Place, Right Time?

Every now and then, I find myself in the right place, at the right time.
This afternoon, I walked out into the yard, and there, on a leaf of one of the milkweed plants, was a Green Bottle Fly.

Creeping up behind that fly...was an Assassin Bug.

I ran back inside and got my camera.
There was no time to set up the tripod and activate the remote trigger, so I just held real still and started shooting.
The Assassin Bug is a very patient and stealthy hunter, often laying in wait for just the right opportunity.

You'll notice a strand of spider-web attached to the leaf. It has nothing to do with either insect here. Assassin Bugs share some hunting traits with spiders, but they do not spin webs.

This shiny green fly (which was probably waiting for a chance to get inside my house with all of his buddies), was the perfect "customer" for the Assassin Bug.

He was completely oblivious of his imminent fate.

In the time it took me to grab my camera and start shooting, the hunter had crept from two inches away, to just within snatching range.

The snatch happened so quick, there's no way I could have captured it.
But I got the "before and after".

Here's the duo just before the snatch.

And here's the "assassination"

Assassin Bugs are members of the "True Bug" family known as Hemiptera.
They can inflict a painful bite if not handled correctly.
Many species of Assassin Bugs exist.
All share the same method of hunting and immobilizing their prey with a venom-injecting beak.

Here's a link to a good description page on Assassin Bugs:

http://www.kaweahoaks.com/html/assissin_bug.html

Like I said:
every now and then, I find myself in the right place, at the right time.
Today, the fly was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

If you ask me,
the fly had it coming.