This fly larva turned his ass into the head of a little one. The big question we have now is how it will be adult

When we think of camouflage in nature, images of Octopos that melt with the seabed, of SEPIAS or chameleons. There are other tactics to confuse possible predators, such as Butterflies that mimic patterns in the wings to confuse birds or Palo insects. But there is an even more committed case to go unnoticed: that of a flip larva that has turned its butt into the head of a termite.

And it works so well that the termites until they feed.

Fluke. What seems an adorable creature in the main image is, in reality, the rear of a blue fly larva. It has false antennas, but also false eyes, an impressive morphology adopted with a single objective: to confuse the termites. And the finding has been made … by chance.

Researchers from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, the CSIC and the Pompeu Fabra University were studying butterflies and ants in the Anti-Atlas mountain range, south of Morocco. However, like They explain In the publication of the IBE, as the butterflies did not fly due to the heavy rains, they began to look for ants. “When we lift a stone, we found a termiter with three fly larvae that we had not seen before.”

Shut mask. They themselves affirm that it was a “casual finding”, but really special because, after it, they made three more expeditions in the area and, “despite lifting hundreds of stones, we only find two others, together in another termitter.” In it study Published in Current Biology, researchers develop their surprise with these larvae that have developed “a unique costume”.

Located on the back of the body, the bluefly larva shows a “termite mask” with a non -functional head that has an antennas, palps and eyes extremely similar to those with a great trine harvesting. Those eyes have a function, but very different from what we might think: they are the holes for which the larva simply breathes.

Twin. As they explain, most termites live in extremely dark environments on termiters at meters deep, so they do not need eyes at all. The harvesting termites, however, go to the surface to collect grass and have functional eyes, something that these larvae mimic with their spiracles.

3D camouflage. The specimens are curious, but they would really have to define them as fascinating due to two extremely unique details. One is that they not only have antennas in that false head, but throughout their body, as if they were tentacles. Researchers estimate that it is something that facilitates simultaneous communication with several termites inside the termiter. As you don’t see there, the termite that rubs to the “narrow” larva the tentacle of the false termite and thinks “ok, is mine.”

But … do they only use touch? The truth is that not because, apart from being felt, the termites have a unique aroma that allows them to identify themselves as the same colony in the galleries of their home. And here comes the other fascinating detail: the larvae imitate that aroma and smell exactly the same as the rest of the termites. Each colony has a distinctive aroma, something that these larvae also have and that researchers have described as a “chemical costume.”

They even give it porridge. “The larva is not only tolerated, but constantly communicates with the termites,” says Roger Vila, one of those responsible for the finding. He also speculates the possibility that the termites themselves feed the larva (through their functional head, yes), but it is something they are testing. In one of his photographs you can see that possible mouth -to -mouth food.

Accelerated evolution. Vila comments that it is not so weird that there are flies that are made by other insects to carry out forms of social parasitism. For example, humpback flies also imitate the termites, but in that case they are adults, and not the larvae, the protagonists.

It also indicates that the common ancestor between both flies dates back to more than 150 million years ago, “much more than what separates human beings from mice, so we could affirm that we have discovered a new case of evolution of social integration,” he says. In addition, he points out that the blue fly larva would have evolved very quickly to adopt these forms.

Complications. Vila emphasizes that discoveries like this help to be aware of everything we do not know about the diversity and specialization of insects, but also comments that studying these laboratory larvae is something that seems extremely complicated.

The larvae studied ended up dying without reaching metamorphosis in the laboratory, which indicates that, either recreate the conditions they have in the termiter in the desert is crucial – something very difficult – or there is some other element of the nest and the symbiotic relationship between species that is crucial for the survival of the specimens.

We will see what they end up discovering, since now the mystery is not only to know if it is a unique larva, but how it will be in its adult form.

Images Ibe, Roger VilaCurrent Biology

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