kids encyclopedia robot

Ostenia facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Ostenia
Scientific classification
Genus:
Ostenia
Species:
robusta

The Ostenia robusta is a special type of fly that lives only in New Zealand. It belongs to a group of flies called Ostenia, which has only this one species. This tiny fly is part of a bigger family of flies known as Dolichopodidae.

A scientist named Frederick Hutton first described this fly in 1901. The name Ostenia was given to honor another scientist, Carl Robert Osten-Sacken.

About the Ostenia Robusta Fly

Not much is known about how the Ostenia robusta lives or its role in nature. Scientists are still trying to learn more about it.

What We Know So Far

In 2012 and 2013, scientists found something interesting. They saw young O. robusta (called larvae) eating the pupae of another insect. These pupae belonged to the Costelytra zealandica, also known as the grass grub.

This discovery made scientists think that O. robusta might be a parasite. A parasite is an organism that lives on or in another organism (its host) and gets its food from the host. In this case, the O. robusta larvae might have been feeding on the grass grub pupae.

However, later observations in 2014 and 2015 showed different results. These new findings did not support the idea that O. robusta was a parasite of the grass grub. This means scientists still have a mystery to solve about what O. robusta larvae truly eat!

kids search engine
Ostenia Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.