A team of scientists working in tropical forests in Brazil has observed a previously strange case of behavior in tiny , base - looking flies , and it ’s passably darn disgusting . Several different coinage within a particular group of phorid flies were found to exhibit “ headhunting , ” in which females easy chopped the heading off wound emmet , which were significantly larger than the beheaders , using their crisp mouthparts . spill about add up insult to trauma . The fly then drags the headway off to a cloistered dining region and either gobbles down its delicious contents , or lay an testicle next to it so it can feed her athirst offspring . The grisly watching are described inBiodiversity Data Journal .
The Phoridae are a vast and incredibly various family of petite ( 0.4 - 6.0 mm ) , hump - backed tent flap that look a act like fruit fly . More than 4,000 metal money of phorid tent-fly have so far been described , belonging to 230 genus . Although many penis are ill describe , some species are well - known for the flakey , and rather disgusting , behaviors they march . Coffin fly , for example , are so named because they are remarkably talented at getting into seal places containing dilapidate matter , including human coffins , and will then use the corpse as a upbringing web site and nursery ground .
Another truly atrocious chemical group of phorid flies is the “ ant - decapitating flies . ” No prizes for gauge why . But rather than going around chopping ants heads off , these flies inject their eggs into the innkeeper ’s soundbox , which then hatching and provender inside the ant ’s caput . Eventually , the poor ant ’s head word falls off . It ’s also thought that the tent-fly could be publish an enzyme to dissolve the attachment between the head and the rest of the body , thus serve in the decapitation process . Yummy .
Now , scientist have discovered another related to group of phorid rainfly that also like to decapitate tent-fly , but they do it in a unlike way . Adult females from theDohrniphoriagenus , which are aboriginal to South and Central America , pop out the ghastly process by picking on an spite trap - jaw pismire . “ emmet are foul , militant tool that often contend each other to the death and allow the bruise to die,”saidlead source Brian Brown . “ These tent flap have found a belittled niche to overwork that ’s been highly productive . ”
The researchers are n’t too sure how these flies become attract to the crippled ants , but it ’s plausibly due topheromoneswafting from the wounded warrior . After spend several minutes “ apparently appraise the stage of incapacitation of the ants , ” the fly mount on the ant and start the decapitation . The fly ball uses itssharp mouthpartsto hack off at the gut , nerve cord and other connections of the headland to the residual of the eubstance . After saw away for several minutes , the fly tug the ant ’s promontory off and drags it to a sequestered spot , up to several meter away , where it will then either dine on its content or put an bollock nearby so that the larva can eventually prey on it .
Since the majority of female scrutinise by the team were bollock - innocent , the research worker think that the head could behelping fuel egg developing .
[ ViaBiodiversity Data Journal , Pensoft PublishersandLive Science ]
