Steve JohnsonUntil recently Prosoeca peringueyi (imagined below), an otherworldly little animal with a needlelike tongue practically two times the length of its body, was believed to play a crucial function in the recreation of at least 28 plant species in Namaqualand, an arid region extending for hundreds of kilometers along the west coast of South Africa. Since the nectar of such long-tubed flower species is concealed away so deeply, standard pollinators such as bees ignore them. P. peringueyi, which is 16– 21 mm long, is one of a minimum of a dozen long-tongued species of the Nemestrinidae family of real flies (Diptera) that are endemic to southern Africa. (In all other parts of the world, Nemestrinidae have short tongues.) Around four of these fly types are discovered in Namaqualand, and they each tend to specialize on specific plant species and/or regions. W EksteenThe story of P. peringueyi took an exciting turn recently thanks to research study by Florent Grenier (above), a botanist at the University of Montpellier in France and Stellenbosch University in South Africa who has been studying the flies as part of his PhD research. In between 2016 and 2018, Grenier spent 4 months of every year in the field, observing and catching flies from almost 150 different populations of the bug.” Based on my field observations of tongue length, I was already fairly convinced that P. peringueyi was two separate types,” describes Grenier. “The distribution of tongue length, throughout many localities, was plainly bimodal. And I ruled out polymorphism by observing that mating pairs of flies constantly had tongues of similar length.” Genevieve Theron Grenier sent out some of his fly samples to entomologist Genevieve Theron, who was then working on a PhD of her own at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Stellenbosch University. After a preliminary examination of all the flies Grenier had actually sent her, Theron carried out a detailed research study of 64 specimens throughout 13 websites. “We did the genes initially, and we discovered 2 clear groupings,” discusses Theron. “When we looked under the microscope, there were likewise clear morphological distinctions beyond tongue length.” In 2020, Theron formally called a new types, Prosoeca torquata (left, above), to differentiate it from P. peringueyi ( right).” Torquata” implies ringed or collared in Latin. As Theron describes, the new species has “a white band of … hairs on the anterior of the thorax and on the face that is missing in P. peringueyi.” P. torquata also “has a darker thorax than P. peringueyi and a proboscis that is only somewhat longer than the body.” Furthermore, there are “clear distinctions in the morphology of the genitalia, which is generally a great sign for entomologists that 2 types stand out.” Ruth CozienThe discovery of the new species does not come as a surprise to Michael Kuhlmann, an entomologist at Kiel University in Germany who has studied Namaqualands wild bees for more than 20 years.” Namaqualand is an international hotspot for pollinator diversity, and there merely arent sufficient scientists to study it,” states Kuhlmann. “There are actually numerous pollinating insect types still waiting to be described.” On this point, Theron informs The Scientist that she expects to explain an additional 3 or four Prosoeca species from the specimens Grenier sent out her.Greniers work has also led to botanical discoveries: thanks to his observations in Namaqualand, the variety of plants known to be checked out by P. peringueyi and/or P. torquata ( above) has actually jumped from 28 to at least 42. Now that its known that there are 2 fly types, scientists can study the pollination of long-tubed flower species with fresh eyes. A current paper by Stellenbosch University scientist Anton Pauw and coworkers found that while both fly types visit Pelargonium incrassatum, P. torquata is much more common in the locations where the plant is discovered, making it a more important pollinator in this case. Pauw and colleagues write in their paper that they had actually instead anticipated P. peringueyi to be the main pollinator, as its longer proboscis matches the flowers tube length nearly exactly. Theron states that the findings highlight the significance of doing in-depth studies on long-tubed flower types in the region to understand exactly which flies are pollinating which flowers. FLORENT GRENIERThe discovery of P. torquata is a suggestion of how little researchers learn about the plant-pollinator relationships in Namaqualand, states Kuhlmann. When it concerns comprehending the life cycles of P. peringueyi and P. torquata, it can only be assumed that they replicate in a similar style to Trichopsidea costata, the only long-tongued nemestrinid in southern Africa whose life cycle has been studied. A parasitoid, T. costata lays its eggs on raw material, and when these hatch, the larvae climb up onto and burrow inside the brown locust (thought about a pest by farmers) and slowly consume it from the inside. “We think something similar is happening with P. torquata and P. peringueyi,” states Theron. “But we cant say for sure.” Timotheus van der NietClimate modification and habitat loss have struck Namaqualand particularly hard. “One of my biggest worries,” states Kuhlmann, “is that we will lose lots of species, and their specialized pollination relationships, prior to we even understand that they exist.” As for conserving the endemic plants and pests of Namaqualand, “the only answer is to save the environment,” he states. “Its a vast location with thousands of species … This brand-new fly is the Lion King or the elephant of Namaqualand insect species, and its great that it gets gotten by the media. But there are likewise hundreds or thousands of others that do not get a reference. We need to use discoveries like this to display Namaqualands unbelievable diversity before its too late.”
P. peringueyi, which is 16– 21 mm long, is one of at least a dozen long-tongued species of the Nemestrinidae family of real flies (Diptera) that are endemic to southern Africa.” Based on my field observations of tongue length, I was already relatively persuaded that P. peringueyi was two different species,” describes Grenier. Now that its understood that there are two fly types, researchers can study the pollination of long-tubed flower species with fresh eyes. A current paper by Stellenbosch University researcher Anton Pauw and coworkers found that while both fly types visit Pelargonium incrassatum, P. torquata is far more widespread in the locations where the plant is discovered, making it a more essential pollinator in this case. “Its a vast area with thousands of types … This brand-new fly is the Lion King or the elephant of Namaqualand insect species, and its terrific that it gets chosen up by the media.
