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Project Noah Nature School
Entomophthora muscae
A small but very attractive little fly with metalic blue colours and furry white bands on the abdomen. Approximately 11mm long.
Resting on a log cabin wall in a local nature reserve.
"The mycelium of this fungus may grow into an area of the brain that controls the behaviour of the fly, forcing it to land on a surface and crawl upwards. The hyphae gradually grow through the whole of the body, digesting the guts, and the fly dies in about five to seven days. When it is critically ill, it tends to crawl to a high point, straighten its hind legs and open its wings, a behaviour that ensures that the fungal spores are dispersed as widely as possible." - Wikipedia
Thanks Lauren Tachinidae->....?
Thanks ForestDragon for links to fly fungus.
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Zygomycota
Order: Entomophthorales
Family: Entomophthoraceae
Genus: Entomophthora
Paul Beuk (Conservator (biologie) at Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht) says - "I'd say wing venation rules out Tabanidae... Muscidae or Anthomyiidae, I guess."
Spotted on Feb 3, 2014
Submitted on Feb 4, 2014
9 Comments
Done Sergio. ForestDragon - I recall the day and location was extremely windy. I turned away to call Leuba for a look and it was gone so there's a reasonable chance it was just blown away. Thanks again. (Category is Arthropod or Fungi? :-)
Mark, as it looks like this fly is infected by a fungus, please add it to the mission http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1159...
You're welcome Mark! It is curious. That's why I asked about if it was alive. It's body position nearly matches the other ones.
I hope you find an answer to your fly mystery. I don't know how long they live before they look like the flies in the images from the links.
It's fascinating either way!
Excellent reading thanks Tamar. I suppose it's a possibilty but, as I read it, it should be dead by this stage..? At least it's back legs aren't fully straightened yet but the wings don't look to be in normal position do they?? Thanks for that Tamar.
..but they are interesting pics aren't they. Fungus seems to reveal itself via the abdominal bands. Worth thinking about.
It was alive. I got 3 shots then it took off. I am definitely also curious about the double blobs where the halteres should be.
Mark, this is a very interesting image. Was this fly alive? It reminds me a lot of the fungus ridden fly images I have seen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophtho...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/59369/bgim...
What do you think?
Great thanks Lauren. That gives me confidence to search.
Looks good for Tachinidae. The wing venation matches.