The butts of these blowfly larvae mimic termite faces

By Gennaro Tomma
5 HOURS AGO

In the insect world, impostors could be hiding anywhere.
When lifting a stone during an expedition in the Anti-Atlas Mountains in Morocco, researchers came across an unusual sight: three blowfly larvae living inside a termite nest.

“I immediately thought ‘Wow, this is something cool,’ because I’ve never seen anything like that,” says entomologist Roger Vila of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona.

Vila and colleagues brought the larvae and some termites to the lab, hoping to understand how the interlopers manage to get by unnoticed among harvester termites (Anacanthotermes ochraceus), which are known to kill intruders that enter their nests. The team examined the insects under the microscope, documented how the two species interacted and performed a number of experiments.

The blowfly larvae bodies have evolved to closely resemble those of the termites, the researchers report February 10 in Current Biology. Inside the nest, termites recognize each other through touch, so having a termite-shaped body is crucial for larvae survival.

On their rears, the larvae have features that resemble a termite’s antennae, eyes and other small structures, creating a false termite head. And tentacles around the body imitate termite antennae — allowing the larvae to deceive termites coming from all sides.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/butt-blowfly-larvae-mimic-termite-faces