Winging South: Finally, a fly fossil from Antarctica

A tiny fossil collected about 500 kilometers from the South Pole indicates that Antarctica was once home to a type of fly that scientists long thought had never inhabited the now-icy, almost insectfree continent.

THEN AND NOW. A fossil pupa fragment (above) found in Antarctica has a pair of spiracles, or breathing holes, (arrows) which marks its species as similar to modern blowflies (pupa, below).