I'm going to be a Daddy!

I say 'Daddy' but actually...

Eleven days back, I took myself down to Portree and enjoyed a slow wander through the woods, finding myself a whole bunch of leaf-mining fly larvae. I blogged about it that evening, doubtless you recall the post in question. No? Ok - here's the link for you. Amidst various other things, I found a single Phytomyza ranunculi larva in a Creeping Buttercup leaf, which I promptly popped into a pot. Later that same evening I extracted the larva from its mine and took this pic

Yellow maggot of Phytomyza ranunculi

I bundled the larva and buttercup leaf back into the glass tube and hoped nature would run its course. That was eleven days back.

Spoiler alert - don't read the (really rather squiffy) label just yet

Miraculously, the larva survived and successfully found its way back into the leaf tissue whereupon it continued munching its way towards being fully fed. I didn't check the tube yesterday, but I had a peek tonight. This is what I found

The upper tube is the  Phytomyza ranunculi larva - look closely now!

Here's an even closer look...

Still can't see it, huh?

My Phytomyza ranunculi larva has successfully pupated! Woo-hoo, that's my boy!

I've still to wrap my head around the whole process of a larva turning into an adult insect. In this instance, the maggot reduces into a gloopy mess and then somehow reconstitutes itself into a fully-functioning fly complete with compound eyes, bristles, legs and wings. The two pointy things visible at the either end of the pupa are the breathing spiracles, it's how the maggot/pupa breathes. By the time the adult fly emerges, these spiracles will be situated one at the front and one at the rear of each side of the thorax, providing oxygen to the massively enlarged flight muscles. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of the processes involved in this metamorphosis. Various experiments with caterpillars have conclusively proven that adult butterflies have memories of being a larva, presumably the same also holds true with flies. It seems that the central nervous system and the brain remain essentially intact and functioning, whilst the surrounding body tissues reduce into a 'soup' before settling out into the radically different adult form. Pure voodoo rootwork if you ask me.

Anyway - I shall be keeping a close eye on my pupa. It's ordinarily pretty cold in my room (though a lot warmer than current outside temperatures - we enjoyed a good snowfall yesterday) so it should take a wee while for the adult fly to emerge from the puparium.  The other tube visible in the pic above houses a busily chomping larva of Chromatomyia aprilina in a Honeysuckle leaf. Hopefully I'll be able to rear that through to adulthood too. Usually I end up with a parasitic wasp, but somehow I'm hopeful of rearing through adult flies this time, we shall see. 

For Hendrix fans out there, never mind that Voodoo Child rubbish, here's a 1969 clip of a truly stoned yet phenomenal Jimi performing Voodoo Chile . It's not a short clip, so settle back and please enjoy!