Extremely rare fly maggots now have fake faces on their BOOTY and it serves as a surprise weapon
A NEW type of fly maggot has evolved fake faces on their rear-ends as a clever tactic to infiltrate the nests of their prey, a new study has found.
Researchers found that the Moroccan fly maggot, a previously unknown type of fly larva, had developed butts that look like termite heads.
Their booty's are adorned with two red dots, that look like beady eyes, and antennae.
Yet these are actually an extreme form of adaptation.
The larva has modified its breathing holes to act like fake eyes, and changed its sensory organs to resemble antennae.
The aim of this masked seduction is to trick harvester termites into thinking the fly larvae are part of their colony, according to research published in the journal .
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Soldier termites are ruthless, and typically kill colony intruders on site.
But disguised as one of their own, researchers found that the termites are blind to the infiltrating maggot.
The two-faced larvae were discovered by chance, while researchers were looking for ants in the Anti-Atlas mountains.
"It must be an extremely rare species, because we have made three more expeditions in that area," study author Roger Vila, a scientist at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Spain, said in a .
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"And despite lifting hundreds of stones, we found only two more flies, together, in another termite mound."
This ruse takes a lot more than a second face to pull off, according to researchers.
It requires the maggot to act like a termite - and even smell like a termite.
"They smell exactly the same," added Vila.
"In addition, the larvae and termites in a particular colony have slight differences in their chemical profile that differentiate them from other termite mounds.
"This odour is key to interacting with the termites and benefiting from their communal life. It is a chemical disguise."
It's the first time researchers have detected this level of mimicry from the fly genus Rhyncomya, which the Moroccan fly maggot is a part of.
Little is known about the new species.
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Researchers were unable to raise any of the larvae they collected to adulthood.
"Their diet is currently unknown, and their adult form remains a mystery," said Vila.
