News
World's rarest fly rediscovered
On a recent trip to Kenya, Ashley Kirk-Spriggs, Entomologist at the National Museum, and Bob Copeland (International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, were fortunate to re-discover the bizarre wingless fly, Terrible Hairy Fly (Mormotomyia hirsuta), which has only been collected twice before, in 1933 and 1948, although several expeditions have subsequently been unsuccessful in re-discovering the species.
The fly belongs to a family of its own, the Mormotomyiidae, which is endemic to the Afrotropical Region. The systematic position of this family within the higher flies has long been an anomaly and we now have suitably preserved specimens (collected during our trip) for molecular analysis. The situation regarding its systematic position can now at last be resolved.
The species is known from only a single locality in the world and is the world’s ‘rarest fly’. The flies are associated with bats and the larvae develop in the bat guano following heavy rains when this is washed from a cleft in the rock inhabited by the bats.
The flies have the forewings reduced to tiny straps, and have enormously long legs, clothed in immensely long hairs which they use as a parachute to drift down from the roof of the rock crevice in which they live.
This discovery represents a major leap forward in our understanding of the systematics of the higher flies and is causing a great deal of excitement within the dipterological community worldwide.
Entomology News
Assistance to the National Insect collection
.JPG "Ashley Kirk-Sprigs")
Ashley Kirk-Spriggs, Curator of Entomology, spent three days at the National Collection of Insects (ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute), in Pretoria in October, assisting in the sorting of their unidentified collection of true flies (Diptera). During this period he sorted 5,000 specimens into 63 families, 14 of which were not previously represented in the collection. This represents a major step forward towards their goal of updating their Diptera collection, which currently does not have a resident specialist.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Boyekoli Ebale Congo Expedition 2010
%20(Small).JPG "The two
baleinières on which we lived and worked.")
A major European initiative to celebrate International Year of Biodiversity was the multidisciplinary scientific expedition Boyekoli Ebale Congo Expedition (meaning study of the Congo River), organized by three Belgian consortium institutions: the Royal Museum of Central Africa, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and the National Botanical Garden of Belgium, in collaboration with the University of Kisangani (UNIKIS) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Thirty-six non-Congolese scientists, mainly Belgians, took part in the Expedition over a period of two months (May – June). Other expedition scientists were from France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States, and Ashley Kirk-Spriggs from South Africa. Subjects studied included aquatic insects, archaeology, biogeochemistry, botany, entomology, fishes and their parasites, geology – cartography, herpetology, limnology, linguistics, mammals and their parasites, and organic pollutants. Congolese scientists and students worked closely with foreign scientists to facilitate collaboration and allow for skills transfer.
Ashley was one of four entomologists on the expedition specifically studying the Diptera (true flies). His participation generated 3 813 dry-pinned specimens, mostly flies, all of which have now been staged, labelled, identified to family and databased. As a result, specimens of selected families have already been distributed to chapter contributors for the forthcoming Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. Most of the material is still preserved in alcohol and has not yet been sorted, but in total the collection is likely to exceed 10 000 insects. Specimens generated through the expedition will eventually be returned to the DRC and form the core of a collection for a planned centre of biodiversity.
All in all, this was a once in a lifetime experience and provided the unique opportunity to sample in areas otherwise entirely inaccessible. The expedition received an enormous amount of media interest and coverage worldwide and has done much to increase public awareness of the activities of scientists in many disciplines, as well as highlighting conservation and biodiversity issues.
%20(Small).JPG "Sweep-netting flies at Lieki village © Kris Pannecouke")
%20(Small).JPG "Micro-pinning tiny flies aboard one of the baleinières.")