The Frightful Hairy Fly Lives In One Rocky Cleft in Kenya

You'd think that an insect with a name like the Frightful Hairy Fly would have a dramatic backstory to match. Fortunately, it is unquestionably the case. The terrifying hairy fly can't fly, so that's a good place to start. It is, however, hairy. Additionally, it only inhabits one rocky crevice in Kenya's Ukazi Hills, where it appears to spend its days in bat feces. The species was first recognized in 1933 and then rediscovered in 1948. It wasn't until 2010 that the species was once more located and could be further investigated.

Despite being a fly, it more closely resembles a spider than a fly. It's also not clear if the insects merely feed on the bats' guano or whether they are parasites. They have never before been sighted outside of a fissure in a boulder in that one cave, and their mouth parts are not designed for predation.

Adult flies are thought to eat bat body fluids. The fly is roughly 1 cm long, has hairy legs, and looks more like a spider than a fly because of its non-functioning wings and small eyes. Only three specimen collections have taken place: in 1933, 1948, and 2010. It is possible that additional, undiscovered populations exist and that gene flow occurs between them and the known population in Ukasi Hill because tested individuals of the population exhibited higher levels of genetic variation than would be expected for such a small geographic region.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Superfamily: Ephydroidea
Family: Mormotomyiidae
Genus: Mormotomyia
Species: M. hirsuta