Illustration by Inna-Marie Strazhnik
Some flies, known as phorids
, specialise in decapitating ants in a gruesome way. They lay their eggs inside their victims. When the maggots hatch, they move towards the ant’s head, where they gorge upon the brain and other tissues. The ant stumbles about in a literally mindless stupor until the connection between its head and body is dissolved by a enzyme released from the maggot. The head falls off and the adult flies burst out. There are hundreds of species of phorid flies, each one targeting its own preferred ants. But some ants are naturally defended against these parasites because they’re incredibly small. Most phorids are a few millimetres long. If an ant is the same size, its head wouldn’t be roomy enough for a developing fly. Thailand, for example, is home to an acrobat ant (Crematogaster rogenhoferi) which can be just 2 millimetres long. ...
