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.
Esta historia es de la edición October 2022 de BBC Wildlife.
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Esta historia es de la edición October 2022 de BBC Wildlife.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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SNAP-CHAT
Justin Gilligan on giant spider crabs and holding hands with an octopus
STEPPE CHANGE
Herds of saiga have returned to Kazakhstan, but there's a fine balance to tread
TREES FOR LIFE
Community is at the heart of conservation in the tropical forests of southern Belize
WHEN DOVES CRY
Turtle doves are now the UK's fastest declining bird species, but the RSPB is on a mission to save them
SURVIVAL OF THE CUTEST
We can't help being drawn to cute creatures, but our aesthetic preferences both help and hinder conservation
LIGHT ON THE NORTH
Spectacular images of Arctic foxes, reindeer and musk oxen reveal the wild beauty and diversity of Scandinavia
ROLLING IN THE DEEP
The super-sized crustacean that lives in the deepest, darkest ocean
LET'S GET TOGETHER
Clay licks deep in the Amazon explode in a riot of colour, with macaws the stars of the show
FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
To sponge or not to sponge? That is the question for the bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) living in Shark Bay, Western Australia.
7 nature encounters for the month ahead
WITH NATURALIST AND AUTHOR BEN HOARE
