Posted on 07/03/2012 1:33:52 PM PDT by smokingfrog
The world's smallest fly is a gruesome parasite that lives inside the heads of ants, growing in size until the victim is decapitated.
The fly, found in Thailand, is just 0.4mm long - the same size or smaller than a grain of salt.
The adult flies lay eggs inside ants' bodies, then the larvae grow to maturity inside their victims' heads, until they finally fall off.
The discovery has shown that even the tiniest insects can be prey to parasites. The flies can decapitate victims with heads as small as 0.5mm.
At just 0.40 millimeters in length, it is 15 times smaller than a house fly and five times smaller than a fruit fly.
Dr. Brian Brown of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, these flies can probably decapitate some of the smallest ants in the world, ones with heads as small as 0.5 millimeters.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This is the same attack plan liberals use.
We may have an answer to why the Democrats act as they do.
Flies in the belfry.
Get a pet Aardvark.
HA! I came here on this thread to reference that episode!
What kind of ant?.........
Outdoor? Think about some chickens if you have the property and/or are not tied down by a homeowners policy.
These flies and larvae do less damage than the parasites in DC.
“What kind of ant?.........’
Ant Esther... “I’m coming Weesy” BANG!!!
***The adult flies lay eggs inside ants’ bodies, then the larvae grow to maturity inside their victims’ heads, until they finally fall off. ****
Oh reminds me of a musical I recently saw.
“The Phantom of the Ant Hill is in your mind!”
God seems somewhat quirky sometimes in nature’s semblance.
Actually the scientists of Texas A&M University have been working on just such a project to end the scourge of fire ants.
In their native habitat of S. America, the fire ant’s only known natural enemy is a flying gnat that burrows into the head of the ant and sucks the brains out, much like the parasite in this story.
Of course, no one wants to mention the problems caused by importing non-native species of other types such as water hyanciths, nutria, kudzu, zebra mussels, pythons and boa constrictors, etc. etc.
Not to worry, friends, our Aggie scientists are protecting us all from the dangers inherent in brain-sucking gnats.
On the other hand, would you trust your life to a school that voted to send their under-performing football team into the SEC? I didn’t think so.
THAT’S what my (legal) Thai immigrant in-laws are doing to me. Dang.
Actually, I found some stuff last year -- Demon WP -- that works really well.
I wonder if this parasite would be effective on fire ants.
Aggie Pest Control
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
A grain of salt is GARGANTUAN. In the beekeeper world, we have to deal with Varroa mites - nothing special, just nuisance mites that you can even see with the unaided eye that hold onto the back of a honeybee. BUT, of note here, is the Trachea mite - quite a bit smaller, not viewable with the eye even if you could look into a honeybee's trachea. So, like a relatively large fly to the tiniest, beekeepers deal with the relatively large varroa mite to the tiniest - and much smaller than a grain of salt.
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