The globeflower fly

Every spring, the cycle begins again: the meadow is adorned with the most beautiful flowers! On the bright corollas, insects are busy: butterflies, flies and bees fervently gather pollen. But on the splendid golden globeflower, jealously closed in on themselves, the contenders are rare. Only flies of the Chiastocheta genus can be creep into the globes to collect nectar and at the same time load themselves with pollen. But, hidden from view, the fly also lays its eggs in the flowers’ ovules, so that the larvae, as they develop, devour the budding seeds. Fortunately, the few sparse seeds will give other globes.