Until recently Prosoeca peringueyi (pictured below), an otherworldly little creature with a needlelike tongue almost twice the length of its body, was thought to play a vital role in the reproduction of at least 28 plant species in Namaqualand, an arid region extending for hundreds of kilometers along the west coast of South Africa. Because the nectar of such long-tubed flower species is hidden away so deeply, conventional pollinators such as bees ignore them.
P. peringueyi, which is 16–21 mm long, is one of at least a dozen long-tongued species of the Nemestrinidae family of true flies (Diptera) that are endemic to southern Africa. (In all other parts of the world, Nemestrinidae have short tongues.) Around four of these fly species are found in Namaqualand, and they each tend to specialize on certain plant species and/or regions.
The story of P. peringueyi took an exciting turn recently thanks to research ...