- The wingless bat-fly, Mystacinobia zelandica,
lives in large communities in roosts of the short-tailed
bat, and requires temperatures of around 30° for
development and survival (much higher temperatures
than those outside the roost).
- Adults and larvae feed on bat guano.
- Dispersal of bat-flies to other bat colonies depends
on transport by the bats: as many as 10 bat-flies
may be found in the fur of 1 bat when it leaves its
roost to feed at night.
- The bat-fly has a level of social behaviour unknown
in any other fly (Diptera) in the world, including:
- parents live side by side with their progeny;
- mutual grooming between adults and larvae;
- males have an extended life-span to produce
a sound-producing guard (soldier)
caste.
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