soldier fly: well, I never

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Soldier fly

Hold on to your accent Sir David Attenborough, the most beautifully odd lifeform we found Friday with the Ed-Ventures @ Ijams homeschool class on aquatic macroinvertebrates was a soldier fly larva, a common and widespread fly of the family Stratiomyidae. Unlike many other fly species neither the larvae nor adults are considered pests or vectors. They exist pretty much unbeknowst to us.

And I had never seen one of the juvenile form before. 

Shown at top resting on my thumb, the creepy larva is essentially an aquatic "maggot"—little more than a wriggling, writhing digestive canal: a head and mouth, a long intestine and an anus, with no walking legs whatsoever.

Ed-Ventures @ Ijams Homeschoolers

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