Long-Tongued Flies: Bold Pollinators of Namaqualand

The recent discovery of a new fly species deepens our understanding of what it’ll take to conserve a bevy of endemic long tubed flower species in Namaqualand. But still, there are far more questions than answers.

UNTIL RECENTLY, Prosoeca peringueyi – an otherworldly creature with a needle-like tongue twice the length of its body (in other words, more than an inch long) – was thought to play a vital role in the reproduction of around 28 Namaqualand plant species whose tubular flowers could only be accessed by its oversized proboscis.

But ongoing research by French botanist Florent Grenier and South African entomologist Genevieve Theron has shown the number of plant species to be at least 42 – a conservative estimate suggests no fewer than nine of which are at risk of extinction. Hesperantha oligantha, for example, is critically endangered, with a single known population in the Hantamsberg of about 30 individuals. This dainty little pink flower’s only hope of survival lies in the long-tongued flies.

POLLINATION 101

Most flowers have both male and female parts. The male parts produce pollen, while the female parts - the stigma - actually contain eggs. To reproduce, the pollen needs to reach the stigma, but ... plants can't move. Wind is one (rather inefficient) option of pollination, but 80 per cent of flowering plants rely on some type of pollinator. These are drawn to the flowers' sweet nectar and end up carrying the sticky pollen from flower to flower without even realising it. While bees are far and away the most famous pollinators, flies, beetles, wasps, moths, rodents and even lizards also pollinate many plant species.

ONE BECOMES TWO