The Secret Life of Flies

The Secret Life of Flies, Erica McAlister (2017). Hardback, 256 pages, CSIRO Publishing.

Enter a hidden world of snail killers, silly names and crazy sex lives.

In The Secret Life of Flies entomologist Erica McAlister gets under the wings of these crucial creatures as she adventures into the land of the fly. From hungry herbivores and precocious pollinators to robber flies, danceflies and the much maligned mosquito, she describes the different types of fly, their unique and often unusual characteristics, and the unpredictable nature of their daily life.

Erica travels from the drawers of wonder at the Natural History Museum, London to the mountains of Peru, via underground caves, smelly latrines and the English country garden. She discovers flies without wings, eyes on stalks, rotating genitalia and the terrible hairy fly, while pausing along the way to consider today’s key issues of conservation, taxonomy, forensic entomology and climate change.

Combining her deep knowledge and love of flies with a wonderful knack for storytelling, Erica McAlister allows us to peer – amazed and captivated – into the secret life of flies.

The Secret Life of Flies is suited to insect lovers and natural history enthusiasts.

• Engaging read that gets under the wings of these crucial creatures.
• Fascinating stories, adventures and science from the world of flies.
• Written by Erica McAlister, Curator of Diptera at the Natural History Museum, London, and presenter of the popular BBC Radio 4 series Who’s the Pest?