I have Google Scholar alert set up that sends me notifications whenever a publication includes “white-tailed deer.” Shockingly, I get an email every day with links to all kinds of things. They include alerts like “Analysis of different biological matrices for glucocorticoid detection in wild Cervidae and Bovidae from Europe and North America: a review.” Not really my cup of tea.
One did pop up a couple of weeks ago that got me excited: Shed antlers as a larval environment: antler quality and adult performance of wild Protopiophila litigata (Diptera: Piophilidae). But it was not what I was expecting. This was not about antlers but about the bugs that live on antlers. Did you know there is a fly that breeds exclusively on shed antlers? Neither did I!
They are called…antler flies (Protopiophila litigata). Not a very creative name but appropriately descriptive. Their known distribution is eastern Canada – parts of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. The predominant antler found up there is moose. Males spend their entire lives on the same antler and they are VERY aggressive defending territories, battling rivals, and attacking insects much larger than themselves.
Females arrive on antlers to feed, breed, and lay eggs in the cracks and pores in the antler surface. Larvae develop in the porous bone matrix inside antlers and emerge when they are ready to pupate. Getting to the ground without wings or legs can be tricky but the larvae spring load themselves and pop off the antler. Check out the video!
Twelve days later, adult flies emerge and return to their natal antler!
A world the size of an antler. Which made me think of Horton. I am speaking of Horton, the elephant, of course. You know, the one that lives in the Jungle of Nool and splashes in the cool of the pool. And with his big ears hears a Who!
I’m sure you think me crazy. What do antler flies and Whos have in common?
Generations of antler flies live and die on the same antler. They, like the Whos, live on a Speck – metaphorically speaking.
To paraphrase William Blake, “To see a world in a [speck] of sand…”
This is all too philosophical for a blog that centers on deer. But it’s good to keep things in perspective. The worlds of creatures are vast no matter the size of the speck.
-Jeannine Fleegle
Wildlife Biologist
PA Game Commission
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