14 DAY TRIAL // Corpse-eating flies believed to have gone extinct over a century ago have been rediscovered by scientists. They detail their finds in an article published in the journal ZooKeys.
Researchers have thus far documented the existence of many insect species that feed on the bodies of dead animals.
Still, bone-skippers, as these peculiar flies are named, seem to take things to a whole new level.
Sources say that, rather that preferring a fresh corpse, bone-skippers are besides themselves with joy whenever they chance to stumble upon a corpse in an advanced stage of decay.
In fact, it appears that, the more decayed the body, the greater their eagerness to feast on it is. The insects have an acute sense of smell, which they use to locate their next meal.
It is believed that bone-skippers used to be a common sight before the industrial boom. In those days, many large animals inhabited Europe, and carcasses were not gotten rid of as fast as they presently are.
Because of this, food availability was not an issue for the corpse-eating flies.
Specialists explain that the insects have one other quirk: they are most active from November to January, and more often than not only come out of their hiding places after nightfall.
By contrast, most other insect species are not all that active in early winter.
Bone-skipper flies owe their name to the fact that young specimens tend to jump up and down the bodies they are busy devouring.
Over the past few years, three species of bone-skipper have been sighted in various regions across Europe. Although there are plenty of pictures and videos of the insects to go around, researchers have only gotten their hands on very few actual specimens.
With the help of these specimens, they were able to describe a so-called neotype for one bone-skipper species called Thyreophora anthropophaga.
This neotype will allow them to pin down and characterize other species belonging to the same group.