mosca melenuda terrible

i was having a hard time finding a science news story that i found interesting and entertaining enough to write about tonight.

sure, scientists at the university of colorado discovered (and published in the journal Science Translational Medicine) that stem cell injections in mice can not only boost leg muscle, but prevent age deterioration (bringing me one step closer to finally having "ups"), and that's amazing...

but it just wasn't what i was looking for.

until i found this:

"Africa's 'terrible hairy fly' found in Kenya"

yes, that's right.

a terribly hairy fly.

apparently, scientists haven't seen this fly in the wild in 62 years, but even more amazing? it can't actually fly. Mormotomyia hirsuta is approximately one centimeter long (the common house fly grows to be 0.8-1.2cm), covered in tiny yellow hairs, and has non-functioning wings.

it's also very likely that it only lives in a single rock-cleft in uzaki hill, east of nairobi. why, you ask? well, the hairy fly has a predilection for breeding in bat guano, something that this rock cleft is in no shortage of.

not much else is known due to the extreme rarity of the fly, but this much is known, and this much is disappointing:

there is currently no known luchador wrestling under the name: "mosca melenuda terrible."

(though a google image search for "terrible hairy fly" DID eventually net this:)


to make up for that, here's a picture of a piglet squid: