This little 4mm fly landed on the arm of my chair on the deck above Bull Creek. It wandered around slowly, raising and lowering its wings every few seconds as it patiently waited for me to get out my camera. INaturalist identified it easily as an antlered flutter fly, Toxonevra superba. Minnesoteseasons.com describes it:
"Toxonevra superba is is a widely distributed but rare flutter fly. It is sometimes called antlered flutter fly, but not by any authoritative sources. It occurs in the United States from Maine to Minnesota south to Georgia and Nebraska, and in southern Canada from Nova Scotia to Alberta. Adults are found on flowers and on low branches of trees and shrubs. Larvae may feed on plant material, or they may prey on the larvae of bark beetles, or both. "
T. superba is a member of the Pallopteridae fly family, so named because of the way the males extend and vibrate their wings. This earns them common names of trembling-wing, waving-wing or flutter-wing flies.
With its distinctive antler pattern on the wings there are lots of photographs of them on the web but not much more definitive information on the species.
Over 70 species in about 15 genera are found in the temperate regions of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres according to
Wikipedia. With one last look at it below you can see why its 1/6" size is its only protection during deer season.
