New Fly Species Mimics Termites to Infiltrate Colonies in Morocco

The study, published in Current Biology, was conducted by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), in collaboration with the Botanical Institute of Barcelona (IBB, CSIC-CMCNB). It led to the discovery of a species of blue fly (family Calliphoridae) whose larvae integrate into the colonies of terrestrial termites.

"It was a fortuitous discovery. [...] By lifting a stone, we found a termite mound with three fly larvae that we had never seen before. The water had probably flooded the deep layers of the nest and the larvae had emerged to the surface," explains Roger Vila, the researcher who led the study, to La Razon, stressing that "it must be an extremely rare species, because we have carried out three other expeditions in this region and, although we have lifted hundreds of stones, we have only found two other flies, together in another termite mound".

These larvae have the ability to change appearance and resemble termites. On the back of the body, the larva presents a false head with antennae, palps and eyes. "Most termites live meters deep and have no visual perception. However, the foraging termites come out at dusk to collect grass, and have functional eyes that the larvae can imitate with their spiracles," Vila explains, indicating that these larvae "are indistinguishable from the termites of the colony in which they live".

"The larvae we studied ultimately died without reaching metamorphosis, so there could be elements of the nest and the symbiotic relationship between termites and flies that we were unable to transfer to the laboratory. Their diet is unknown to date, and their adult form remains a mystery," added the principal researcher of the study, noting that "the common ancestor of the blue fly and the humpbacked fly dates back more than 150 million years" and that the discovered larvae belong to the "Rhyncomya genus".