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.
This story is from the October 2022 edition of BBC Wildlife.
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This story is from the October 2022 edition of BBC Wildlife.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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