— Archaeologists find new evidence of animals being introduced to prehistoric Caribbean — An archaeological research team from North Carolina State University, the University of Washington and University of Florida has found one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric…
— Microscopic worms could hold the key to living life on Mars — The astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes that if humanity is to survive we will have up sticks and colonise space. But is the human body up to the challenge?…
— Chemical warfare of stealthy silverfish — A co-evolutionary arms race exists between social insects and their parasites. Army ants (Leptogenys distinguenda) share their nests with several parasites such as beetles, snails and…
— Stinky frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotic substances — Some of the nastiest smelling creatures on Earth have skin that produces the greatest known variety of anti-bacterial substances that hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle…
— Genetic code of first arachnid cracked — An international team of scientists - including Ghent VIB scientists - has succeeded in deciphering the genome of the spider mite. This is also the first known genome of an arachnid.…
— How bats 'hear' objects in their path — By placing real and virtual objects in the flight paths of bats, scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Munich have shed new light on how echolocation works. Their research is…
— Counting cats: The endangered snow leopards of the Himalayas — The elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia) lives high in the mountains across Central Asia. Despite potentially living across 12 countries the actual numbers of this beautiful large…
— Surprise role of nuclear structure protein in development — Scientists have long held theories about the importance of proteins called B-type lamins in the process of embryonic stem cells replicating and differentiating into different varieties…
— Pregnancy is a drag for bottlenose dolphins — Lumbering around during the final weeks before delivery is tough for any pregnant mum. Most females adjust their movements to compensate for the extreme physical changes that accompany…
Identifying the origin of the fly
Some may think that the mosquito and the house fly are worlds apart when it comes to common ancestry but new research published this week by an international team of scientists puts them much closer together in evolutionary history. According to a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, the mosquito branched off the same evolutionary tree as the house fly around 220 million years ago.
Though just a few species of flies gain public attention as pests - namely: house flies, March flies and mosquitoes - there are 152,000 named species of flies, representing around 10 per cent of all species on Earth.
The March fly branched off some 175 million years ago, while the common house fly branched off about 50 million years ago.
Flies originated in wet environments and as they evolved they adapted to feed in almost any nutrient-rich substrate in almost any environment on earth.
'What this research shows us is that the Fly Tree of Life went through three periods of fast diversification, with many different groups experimenting with ways to be a fly,' says one of the paper's co-authors, Dr David Yeates from CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences.
'The mosquito, March fly and common house fly are everyday members of these bursts of evolution, which occurred during unstable periods of Earth's history when dramatic environmental change created new habitats for these 'experimental' flies.
'The really interesting thing is that living representatives of these early branching groups, such as mosquitoes and March flies, are still with us.
'This research provides an evolutionary framework for future comparative work on species that are critically important to both society and science,' Dr Yeates said.
The research was conducted by an international consortium of 27 scientists from six countries.
Or subscribe for our Newsletter, a free e-mail publication. It is published practically every day.
Novel physiological states identified for malaria parasite
The future of sunbathing tree frogs under a cloud
The brain on the edge of chaos
Mouse: I am not afraid