Science Visualized Animals

Long-tongued fly sips from afar

Insect specialized for digging deep into flowers can go shallow on occasion

long-tongued fly

LONG-DISTANCE DRINK  Prosoeca ganglbaueri, one of southern Africa’s long-tongued flies, drinks through mouthparts longer than its own body. 

Michael Whitehead

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

The “tongues” of South Africa’s long-tongued flies are certainly long, but they’re not flexible. So a fly has to hover at a distance to sip from a flower’s shallow nectar cup, as seen in the above photograph, which was honored in the 2015 BMC Ecology Image Competition.