14 DAY TRIAL // It will probably be a while before folks in Hollywood decide to make a horror movie about a bunch of savage, blood-thirsty flies whose only pleasure in life is to torment and mutilate others, but as it turns out, they probably should.
Thus, a new paper in the Biodiversity Data Journal describes the breeding behavior of a species of flies that, although mind-bogglingly tiny, are probably some of the most vicious creatures ever to populate our good old planet.
Not to beat about the bush, word has is that these flies decapitate ants by grabbing their head with their front legs and then pulling at it with all their might until it kind of, sort of pops off. They then grab it and make a run for it.
Researchers documented this behavior quite by chance
Writing in the Biodiversity Data Journal, researchers Giar-Ann Kung and Brian Brown with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in the US explain that they documented this odd behavior while observing wildlife in Brazil's tropical forests.
Thus, the explorers were just minding their business when they chanced to notice a bunch of flies decapitating poor, defenseless ants. Needless to say, they saw fit to further investigate the behavior of these flies, and found that ant decapitation was a common practice among them.
The flies, which only measure about 1 to 3 millimeters (about 0.03 to 0.11 inches) in length and which belong to a genus known as Dohrniphora, target injured ants. Having found a victim, they chew on it just enough to sever the nerve cord and the gut that connect the head to the body.
After this, the flies grab hold of the ant's head with their front legs and proceed to pull at it until it falls off. They then carry the head to a secure location where they either feed on it or lay an egg in its proximity. Thus, ant heads serves as a food source for these flies and their offspring.
Not the only crazy, blood-thirsty ants in the world
What's interesting is that these flies are not the only ones to leave other creatures without their head when breeding. On the contrary, Pensoft Publishers tells us that other flies in the family Phoridae lay their eggs inside the body of ants.
When a larva hatches from its egg, it begins to feast on its host. As explained by Giar-Ann Kung and Brian Brown, the body part targeted by the baby fly is the ant's head. The more the larva eats, the wobblier the ant's head gets. Eventually, it simply falls off.
