The Insect Destroyer

Entomophthora muscae: Entomophthora translates from the Greek as “Entomo” insect, “phthor” destroyer. The second part of the name “muscae” means Fly.

There is no such animal as a Marzipan Fly.

Welcome to the extraordinary world of Fungi.

The animal in the picture above is the handsome and formidable Yellow Dung Fly an animal that some ladies consider to be the “Robert De Niro” of Flies and it is sad to see it in such dire straits.

But this isn’t a post about an animal.

The pathogenic fungus that is attacking this animal is called Entomophthora muscae and this is a post about Fungi.

I am a bit sorry that the first time that a fungi appears on this blog it should be in the form of a pathogen and I shall make my very next post about the toadstool house that Big Ears lives in. I love fungi, I just haven’t seen a lot of it about recently but back to the insect destroyer.

The fungus, Entomophthora muscae, settles on the fly’s body in the form of an airborne spore. The tiny threads that make up the body of the fungus (hyphae) enter the fly’s body and grow within, expanding the abdomen. The white marzipan stripes are actually spore bearing structures of the fungus called sporangia.

At the same time the fungus attacks the animals brain causing a change in behaviour which is called “summit disease”. This causes the animal to seek out a high point on a flower and then spread out it’s legs and stretch it’s wings in the posture seen in these photographs.

The Fungi also produces a glue which the animal will then use to stick itself to the flower or plant that it is on. It will then remain in this posture for days or even weeks until it dies.

By doing this the fungi ensures that the animal is in the best position to distribute the airborne spores when they are released.

Isn’t Nature wonderful?

Well it is diverse. Nature is very diverse.

Next I will show you a more visually attractive fungi and a very useful one.

Animal Magic

“Just like that”

It’s your destiny

The Swallows have fledged, or at least they are fledging. They are still in the nest today but they have been out and they can fly.

It has taken me a few days watching and all that you get are a couple of short video’s but for me, my understanding and the pleasure that I got from watching them makes a few days just a drop in the ocean. It was time well spent.

Anyway you should be glad that you don’t have to watch the whole twenty hours of video, that I now have to sort and delete from my machine to free up space.

Here are the best bits.

Yesterday morning there were five birds on the nest, there were five birds on the nest and then there were four birds on the nest. I had missed the very first flight and only realised when number five returned to the nest.

This first video starts with the mother calling for them to leave the nest, there is a little comic interlude of the way that they follow flies, their little heads bobbing in unison and in the last bit the second bird to approach the nest is the returning chick. Does he bring food back or do the others just think that he has?

This next video shows them leaving the nest and returning. They spent most of the day fluttering around inside the little alley way that has become their home and by the end of the day they were all settled back on the nest but this is fledging. Today I think that they have ventured outside and seen the blue sky but they still return to the nest.

These birds have made me think a lot about nature as a whole thing and about life and death in the wild. The caterpillars that I am trying to raise are falling to the parasitoid flies that these Swallows depend on for food and survival. The parents have done a really good job of raising them given the wet weather we have been having. I have often looked out in the pouring rain and wondered how they are managing to raise a brood and now this, flight.

I am so in in love and in awe of them and so damned jealous.

I am jealous because they get to eat those delicious crunchy flies, or perhaps because they can raise offspring in a matter of weeks and not the 26 years it usually takes us. Maybe I am jealous of something else altogether…..