How Hoverflies Spawn Maggots that Sweeten Your Oranges | Deep Look

music what hovers like a tiny helicopter and flies backwards has the flashy backside of a wasp the huge eyes of a fly and spawns murderous maggots [Music] meet the hoverflies also known as flower flies or Surface foreign there are six thousand species each with its own style [Music] bold stripes or plump fuzzy bodies make them look like wasps or bees but it's just a ruse this protective disguise tricks Predators into thinking they might get a face full of stinger if they try to eat the hoverflies this Bluff is called batesian mimicry this one with the intricate pattern on her back is an oblique streak tail right now she's on a mission in this Southern California Flower Patch fueling up on the pollen that will help her grow her eggs she loves this fragrant alyssum and pollinates it as she darts from Bloom to bloom see how precisely she lands her wrap around eyes catch the faintest motion just in time for her to escape this hungry crab spider after filling up on pollen she uses her stubby but powerful antennae to smell for the perfect spot for her eggs an orange tree under attack by these yellow insects with curly q poop Asian citrus psyllids butterfly lays her eggs next to them when maggots hatch out of the eggs they'll have plenty of those psyllids nearby to eat orange growers despise Asian citrus psyllets which spread a destructive bacterium instead of these juicy Beauties trees suffering from Citrus Greening make green bitter fruit and eventually die so scientist Nick Irvin at the University of California Riverside has planted alyssum in Orange Grove to attract oblique Street Tales their maggots hunt for psyllets on the orange trees but the psyllids have a security detail Argentine ants they feed on the psyllid's poop in exchange the ants try to keep the maggots away but this big one has the upper hand it digs its mouth Parts in and injects some Venom it even sucks out a little taste to see if it might want to eat the ant nope it's really after the psyllis each maggot will devour more than 400 in the week before it turns into a pupa and that gluttony means more oranges for you and me [Music] hey deep peeps here's one of our creepiest episodes hair worms that control a cricket's brain from the inside also want to help us shape the future of deep look and even vote on potential new shows for PBS sweet go take our annual viewers survey Link in the description and come right back for more deep look [Music]

Channel: Deep Look

Views: 374,166

Keywords: hoverfly, hoverflies, hoverfly maggot, asian citrus psyllid, citrus greening, citrus greening disease, batesian mimicry, oblique streaktail, Allograpta obliqua, syrphid fly, syrphidae, larva, larvae, deep look, PBS, science, 4K, education, nature, wild, documentary, insect, macro, fly, flies, mimicry, flower fly, hover fly, nature documentary, pest control, organic gardening, wildlife, insects, syrphid flies, entomology, bees, psyllids, alyssum, argentine ants, maggot, maggots, Diaphorina citri, biology

Id: E3nLuK7D7LY

Length: 4min 20sec (260 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 22 2022