Living fossil: genome of the camelneck fly completely decoded

German and Austrian researchers have completely decoded the genome of the black-necked camelneck fly for the first time. They hope that their results, published in the ‘Journal of Heredity’, will provide new insights into the evolution of these once species-rich ‘living fossils’.

Only a few species survived an asteroid impact 66 million years ago, which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The black-necked camel fly (Venustoraphidia nigricollis) is one of them. It belongs to the lowest species order of insects with complete metamorphosis, i.e. with a pupal stage, which is widespread in Europe. For example, colonies also occur in the middle of cities.

Camelneck flies spend most of their lives, usually two or more years, as larvae. During this time they feed mainly on eggs and larvae of other insects, such as pests such as moths and bark beetles. When they hatch at the beginning of summer, other small, soft-skinned insects, especially aphids and scale insects, are also on their menu.

The name comes from the distinctive shape of the diurnal, predatory insects, which are usually less than two centimeters in length: they have a strongly elongated first thoracic segment and a long, flat head, both of which are highly mobile and directed upwards.

For Viennese entomologist Horst Aspöck, emeritus at the Medical University of Vienna, camel-necked flies are ‘living fossils’, as he explained to the APA news agency. Fossils of representatives of this order of insects that lived in the time of the dinosaurs can hardly be distinguished from modern species.

Today there are about 250 species, of which Aspöck and his wife, entomologist Ulrike Aspöck of the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM), have scientifically described. This is the ‘meager remnant of the camel-neck flies, which were much more widespread and richer in species in the Mesozoic era (252 to 66 million years ago). Only species that could adapt to colder temperatures survived the disaster. climate changes caused by an asteroid impact 66 million years ago.

The two entomologists, together with colleagues from Germany’s Senckenberg Society for Natural Research, have now decoded the genome of the black-necked camel fly for the first time. “The results now make it possible to further investigate the phylogenetic analysis of camelneck flies under significantly improved conditions,” says Ulrike Aspöck. They would also show that genetic exchange likely occurred between different species of camelneck flies after the asteroid impact. (rbu/sda/apa)