BABY LOVE : MICRODON HOVERFLY

Clever adaptations allow the larvae of this parasitic hoverfly to happily munch on ant grubs undetected

- Nick Baker's

Afleshy disc with the appearance of a rubbery drop-scone slides slowly forward. Around it, ants dash in a panic, seeming to tend to the imposter’s every need.

Parting the grasses on this ant hill, I had expected to see the usual brood: specks of eggs; crescents of larvae; and the lozenges of cocoons. But this was the oddest thing. Was it an animal, a plant or a fungus? Well, it had to be an animal as it was moving.

What I had found was the rarely seen larva of a hoverfly called Microdon myrmicae. The adult insect is rather unassuming – a big-eyed hoverfly with charismatic thickened antennae and a truncated body. Quite cute, by hoverfly standards.

But its benign appearance belies its dastardly intent. This hoverfly is a social parasite of various species of ants, particularly those of