Phoridae facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Phoridae |
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| Pseudacteon sp., showing the humped back that is characteristic of the family | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Unrecognized taxon (fix): | Phoridae |
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The Phoridae are a family of small, hump-backed flies. They look a bit like fruit flies. You can often spot them because they run very fast across surfaces instead of flying away. This quick running earned them the name "scuttle flies." Another name, "coffin fly," refers to a specific type called Conicera tibialis. There are about 4,000 known species in 230 different groups (genera). One of the most famous species is Megaselia scalaris, found all over the world. The smallest fly in the world, Euryplatea nanaknihali, is also a phorid fly, measuring only 0.4 millimeters long!
Contents
Meet the Scuttle Flies!
What Do Scuttle Flies Look Like?
Scuttle flies are tiny, usually between 0.5 and 6 millimeters long. If you look at them from the side, you'll see a clear hump on their back, which is part of their body called the thorax. Their colors are often black or brown, but some can be yellow, orange, or even pale grey.
Their heads are usually round. They have large, rounded antennae, sometimes with a long bristle sticking out. The mouthparts, called the proboscis, are usually short. They have special bristles on their heads and bodies.
Their legs are strong, and the back legs are often a bit flat on the sides.
Scuttle flies have clear wings, though sometimes they have a slight tint. Their wings have a special pattern of veins. Some veins are strong and reach about halfway along the wing. Other veins are weaker and run diagonally. These flies do not have cross-veins, which are common in other insects.
The abdomen, or back part of the fly, has six visible sections. The last sections are where the reproductive parts are. In some female flies, these parts can form a long tube, like an "ovipositor," used for laying eggs.
Baby scuttle flies, called larvae, are small, usually less than 10 millimeters long. They are often whitish, yellowish, or grey. They have 12 visible body segments.
When a larva is ready to change into an adult, it forms a pupa. The pupa is oval-shaped and often reddish. It has two long, thin breathing tubes on its back.
The History of Scuttle Flies
Scientists have studied scuttle flies for a long time to understand how they are related. They used to group them into six main subfamilies. However, in 1992, scientists discovered that some groups were actually the missing males of other known groups!
The oldest known fossils of scuttle flies have been found in amber. These fossils date back to the Early Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. They were found in amber from France and Spain.
Where Do Scuttle Flies Live and What Do They Eat?
Scuttle flies live all over the world, but you'll find the most different kinds in warm, tropical places. They are one of the most diverse families of flies!
Their larvae can be found in many different places. Some live in the nests of social insects like ants. Others live in wet places or in decaying organic matter, such as animal waste, dead animals, or dead snails. Some even live inside fungi or plants, sometimes as "leaf miners" that tunnel through leaves.
Some scuttle fly larvae are predators, meaning they hunt and eat other small creatures. They might eat earthworms, snails, spiders, or the eggs and young of other insects.
Adult scuttle flies usually eat sweet things like nectar from flowers or honeydew. They also feed on juices from fresh decaying animals or animal waste. Some adults even hunt small insects or feed on the body fluids of beetle larvae.
Some species are called "coffin flies" because their larvae can develop in dead bodies, even those buried in coffins. Because of this, they are very important in forensic entomology, which helps scientists figure out how long a body has been deceased.
Since scuttle flies often visit unsanitary places, like drain pipes, they can sometimes carry germs that might cause diseases if they land on food.
You can often see adult scuttle flies running quickly and suddenly. In some species, the males fly together in large groups. Megaselia halterata, also known as the mushroom phorid, is a pest that affects mushroom farms. It doesn't directly harm the mushrooms but can spread a disease called dry mould.
The Scuttle Fly Life Cycle
Like many insects, scuttle flies go through several stages: egg, larva, pupa, and finally, adult.
A female scuttle fly lays tiny eggs, usually between one and 100 at a time. She places them on or near the food source for the larvae. In her lifetime, she can lay up to 750 eggs!
The eggs hatch into larvae in about 24 hours. The larvae then feed for 8 to 16 days. After feeding, they crawl to a drier spot to change into pupae. The entire journey from egg to adult can take as little as 14 days, but it might also take up to 37 days, depending on the species.
Many scuttle fly species are parasitoids. This means their larvae live inside another insect, eventually killing it. Many specialize in attacking ants. In tropical areas, some species are parasitoids of stingless bees. Sometimes, a single bee can have many fly larvae inside it, even up to 12!
Other species, especially those in the large group Megaselia, grow inside various fungi when they are larvae. These can become pests in places where mushrooms are grown.
Scuttle Flies and Ants: A Strange Relationship
Many types of scuttle flies have interesting relationships with ants. Some are commensals, meaning they live with ants without harming them, often eating food the ants throw away.
Others are parasites or parasitoids. These flies attack foraging ants. They use a special method to land on an ant and quickly lay eggs inside it using a sharp egg-laying tube called an ovipositor.
Some scuttle flies are also kleptoparasites. This means they steal food. For example, adult Metopina formicomendicula flies ride on worker ants. They use their legs to tickle the ant's mouthparts, making the ant spit up food, which the fly then eats. Even the larvae can be kleptoparasites! Metopina pachycondylae larvae stick to a host ant larva and steal its food. They even pupate inside the ant larva's cocoon!
Scientists are still learning about some scuttle fly relationships. For example, the recently found Vestigipoda genus mimics ant larvae and lives in ant brood piles. They might eat ant young or even get cared for by worker ants.
Ant-Decapitating Flies: A Natural Pest Control?
Scuttle flies might be a helpful way to control fire ant populations. Fire ants were accidentally brought to the southern United States in the 1930s and cause a lot of problems.
The genus Pseudacteon, also known as ant-decapitating flies, includes 110 known species that are parasitoids of ants. These flies lay their eggs in the ant's body. The tiny larvae then move to the ant's head. There, they feed on the ant's blood, muscles, and nerves.
Eventually, the larvae eat the ant's brain completely. This makes the ant wander around without purpose for about two weeks. After two to four weeks, the larvae release an enzyme that makes the ant's head fall off! The fly then pupates inside the detached ant head. After another two weeks, a new adult fly emerges.
Different species of Pseudacteon flies have been introduced in places like Texas and Alabama to help control the invasive fire ants. These flies don't usually kill off entire ant colonies. Instead, their presence makes foraging worker ants very cautious and distracted. This can reduce how much food the fire ant colonies collect, helping native ant species compete better.
Scuttle Flies and Honey Bees
In January 2012, a scientist made an interesting discovery. They found larvae in a dead honey bee that was thought to have been affected by colony collapse disorder. These larvae were from Apocephalus borealis, a type of scuttle fly known to attack bumblebees and wasps.
This phorid fly lays its eggs on the bee's abdomen. The eggs hatch, and the larvae feed inside the bee. Infected bees start acting strangely. They might forage at night or gather around lights, similar to moths. Eventually, the sick bee leaves its colony to die alone. After the bee dies, the scuttle fly larvae emerge from its neck.
Images for kids
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A diagram showing the wing veins of a Phora fly.
