World’s Smallest Fly That Lives Inside Ant’s Head
A reconstruction of the tiny phorid fly Euryplatea nanaknihali (below), with its body size compared with a house fly (Musca domestica). This family of flies is known for laying eggs in living ants
Did you know that there is a new fly discovered in Thailand that lives inside the decapitated head of an ant. Its called Euryplatea nanaknihali and its so small that its even tinier than a grain of salt. This fly can barely be seen with the naked eye on a microscope slide
The flies lay their eggs in the body of the ant; the eggs develop and migrate to the ant’s head where they feed on the huge muscles used to open and close the ant’s mouthparts. They eventually devour the ant’s brain as well, causing it to wander aimlessly for two weeks. The head then falls off after the fly larva dissolve the membrane that keeps it attached.
The fly then takes up residence in the decapitated ant head for another two weeks, before hatching out as a full-grown adult. In this case, researchers think the fly parasitizes tiny acrobat ants, whose heads are about as large as the fly itself and grow to about 0.16 inches (4 millimeters) long.
