phorid fly (Pseudacteon curvatis female)

This is a model of a fire ant decapitating fly, based on specimens from Tennessee State University's entomology collection. Modified from a base housefly model by YahooJAPAN to have identifying phorid fly features like a humped back, larger eyes, and a smaller head, as well as the long, curved ovipositor of a P. curvatus female. There may be some anatomical errors, I would not suggest using this as a model for species identification, as this is a freehand sculpt based on my observation. It is intended to act as a scale model for demonstration purposes, the real flies are less than two millimeters long and barely visible to the naked eye. Because of their small size, this model is at approximately 50x scale by default.

Pseudacteon flies are parasitoids of the South American fire ant that have been unintentionally imported to many places across the world (including the United States) along with their fire ant hosts, and they are being studied as a method of biocontrol for fire ants in areas where they are invasive. Adult females will dive bomb fire ants and lay their eggs in the ant's abdomen using the long curved ovipositor you can see in this model, where the larvae will feed off the still living ant as it matures. Eventually the fly larva moves into the head of the ant and pupates, killing the ant, and releases enzymes that break down the ant's connective tissue and causes the head to fall off so the adult fly can emerge through the neck hole.

This print includes some fine details, particularly in the legs, that may give FDM printers trouble unless printed at a large scale- the photos provided were resin printed because my ender 3 couldn't handle the narrow legs at the default scale. For FDM printing I would suggest 1.5 scale at minimum and orienting the model with the head facing upwards. Photos are hand painted, and I used a clear resin to get the transparent wings.