What makes maggots jump

The tiny insects have been seen catapulting themselves distances of more than 40 times their size. Researchers have filmed the so-called Asphondylia maggots jumping between 4. They make the ambitious move shortly after hatching from eggs laid on goldenrods, as they must make a swift exit from the plants before they become too damaged to keep harvesting the nutritious galls the maggots need to survive.

And they are only capable of such an impressive showcase of athleticism in August, though it is not known why. He was keen to share his findings with his graduate school friend Sheila Patek at Duke University in North Carolina, where a team has spent three years examining the maggots and working to try and capture them performing on video.

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Team member Grace Farley said: "We had to zoom in with the camera lens to see the animal clearly and then we had to operate within a small field of view on our computer screen. The fly larva provides the only known example of jumping by a soft-bodied legless organism. Casey, T. Science , — Wainwright, S. Book Google Scholar. Wong, T. Article Google Scholar. Environ Entomol.

Wille, J. Google Scholar. Evans, M. Manton, S. The Arthropods Clarendon, Oxford, Nature , — Schmidt-Nielsen, K. Alexander, R. Animal Mechanics 2nd edn Blackwell, Oxford, Phillips, V. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society No.

Shadwick, R. Vogel, S. Download references. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Reprints and Permissions. Examinations with an electron microscope revealed itty bitty ridges on the spots that do the sticking. And what a process it is: According to analysis from co-author Greg Sutton of the University of Lincoln, the maggots would have to use For now, all we know is that this species of Asphondylia is a mechanical marvel.

Rachel previously worked at Quartz and The Washington Post. Contact the author here. The Waze-like system is hundreds of millions of years old. Brighstoneus simmondsi has a big lump around the nostrils, like a chunky alligator. The harsh, unpredictable sound shares features of mammal and bird alarm calls.