Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 102 ratings

Price: 13.78

Last update: 02-03-2025


About this item

Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History and a New York Times Editors Choice Pick

"After reading Super Fly, you will never take a fly for granted again. Thank you, Jonathan Balcombe, for reminding us of the infinite marvels of everyday creatures." (Sy Montgomery, Author of How to Be a Good Creature)

From an expert in animal consciousness, a book that will turn the fly on the wall into the elephant in the room.

For most of us, the only thing we know about flies is that they're annoying, and our usual reaction is to try to kill them. In Super Fly, the myth-busting biologist Jonathan Balcombe shows the order Diptera in all of its diversity, illustrating the essential role that flies play in every ecosystem in the world as pollinators, waste-disposers, predators, and food source; and how flies continue to reshape our understanding of evolution. Along the way, he reintroduces us to familiar foes like the fruit fly and mosquito, and gives us the chance to meet their lesser-known cousins like the Petroleum Fly (the only animal in the world that breeds in crude oil) and the Chocolate Midge (the sole pollinator of the Cacao tree). No matter your outlook on our tiny buzzing neighbors, Super Fly will change the way you look at flies forever.

Jonathan Balcombe is the author of four books on animal sentience, including the New York Times bestselling What a Fish Knows, which was nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Award for Science Writing. He has worked for years as a researcher and educator with the Humane society to show us the consciousness of other creatures, and here he takes us to the farthest reaches of the animal kingdom.


Top reviews from the United States

  • mtaotafa
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
    Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2024
    Had to get this for a school assignment. It came after 2 days. The book itself is surprisingly fun to read and very informative. Would recommend for those interested in entomology and evolution.
  • Diane M.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and fascinating book!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2022
    So many surprising stories about the lifestyles and personalities of the many species of flies. I expected this to be a dry biology treatise about a yucky subject. Instead, it was a truly enjoyable and interesting read. It was certainly a revelation for me to find out the value and importance of flies to us and our environment.
  • Steve Jurvetson
    4.0 out of 5 stars Here's a summary of what I learned... pretty amazing!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2022
    It's a curious book summarizing the most researched animal for a lay audience. Some juicy tidbits:

    • For each human on Earth, there are 17 million flies. Whoa!

    • A particular fly, the mosquito, has killed half of humanity (over 50 billion people).

    • They are super fly:
    - Their wings can beat at an audible 1 kHz, well in excess of neuronal firing rates.
    - They can adjust the wing song to woo mates, and the volume to account for distance.
    - They have a gearbox and clutch at the base of each wing, like in a car, to adjust wingbeat height, and a runt-wing that acts as an adjustable anti-phase gyroscope
    - They can hover, fly backwards and land upside down
    - They have the most powerful flight muscles of any animal (per gm)
    - They flew 150 million years before any other animal
    - First animal in space (fruit flies in flight, 1947)

    • They taste with their feet (and you know they have six of them!)

    • Fly eyes have hundreds of hexagonal facet sensors, with integrated vision at the brain (like our field of view from two eyes) with dedicated neuronal circuits for facet prioritization, object tracking, optical flow across facets, and motion parallax for foreground/background distinction. Three independent sensors on the top of the head calibrate overall light intensity, allowing rapid detection of an incoming slap (and engaging evasive flight within 0.1 seconds). With eyes fixed to their head, they saccade their bodies in flight the way we do with our eyes, providing a series of image stabilized moments in motion.

    • Flies are the primary pollinators in certain artic and alpine environments, and they may have been the first pollinators 97 million years ago when flowering plant diversity first bloomed.
    -We depend on them in our food webs as well, a bumper crop for many other animals. The total mass of insects on Earth is falling 2.5%/year, a rate that is 8x other animals.

    • The fruit fly is the most studied animal on Earth
    - They have 135K neurons, with dopamine and serotonin, long-term memory and sleep, and can probably feel pain
    - Largest contributor to the understanding of genetics, with rapid generation cycles.
    - Some GMO variant names: “Ken and Barbie” lack external genitalia. “Cheap Date” is especially susceptible to alcohol. The short-lived “Tin Man” lacks a heart.
    - To study evolution in action, one lineage of fruit fly has been kept in constant darkness since 1954. This lineage has lived and reproduced in the dark for over 1,500 generations. Differentiation of reproductive fitness has already occurred.

    • Getting their freak on:
    - Lovebugs copulate for a continuous 56 hours, flying in unison up to 1,500 ft.
    - Sex-deprived flies turn to alcohol
    - One male fly has a penis as long as his body
    - A small fly holds the record for the longest sperm of any animal of any size — over 6cm long! Not a typo.
    - Females have co-evolved matching receptacles, even sporting sperm sorting pouches for selecting from multiple donors.

    • The baby maggots are pretty amazing too:
    - An example: the scuttle flies drop a single egg on the thorax of their target ant. The maggot wiggles into the head of the ant, carefully munching on the big mandible muscles, but avoiding the brain for two weeks. Then it releases an enzyme that dissolves the membrane that holds the ant’s head to the body. The head falls off and provides a protective shell for the growing larva.
    - Maggots are carrion and dung recyclers. In places where dogs and vultures are scarce, they consume most of a carcass. Without flies, we would be awash in organic waste. Billions are grown for composting and industrial protein production.
    - Flies can smell a dead body from 40 miles away, and they arrive with such predictable rapidity, that they are used in forensics to date the time of death to one hour of accuracy. The colonizing larvae can even squeeze through the gaps in closed zipper teeth or suitcases holding murder victims.
    - Tsetse fly larva are ¾ the length of the mother at birth

    • Almost all of us eat insects every day. 25% of humanity eats insects intentionally.
    Customer image
    Steve Jurvetson
    4.0 out of 5 stars
    Here's a summary of what I learned... pretty amazing!

    Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2022
    It's a curious book summarizing the most researched animal for a lay audience. Some juicy tidbits:

    • For each human on Earth, there are 17 million flies. Whoa!

    • A particular fly, the mosquito, has killed half of humanity (over 50 billion people).

    • They are super fly:
    - Their wings can beat at an audible 1 kHz, well in excess of neuronal firing rates.
    - They can adjust the wing song to woo mates, and the volume to account for distance.
    - They have a gearbox and clutch at the base of each wing, like in a car, to adjust wingbeat height, and a runt-wing that acts as an adjustable anti-phase gyroscope
    - They can hover, fly backwards and land upside down
    - They have the most powerful flight muscles of any animal (per gm)
    - They flew 150 million years before any other animal
    - First animal in space (fruit flies in flight, 1947)

    • They taste with their feet (and you know they have six of them!)

    • Fly eyes have hundreds of hexagonal facet sensors, with integrated vision at the brain (like our field of view from two eyes) with dedicated neuronal circuits for facet prioritization, object tracking, optical flow across facets, and motion parallax for foreground/background distinction. Three independent sensors on the top of the head calibrate overall light intensity, allowing rapid detection of an incoming slap (and engaging evasive flight within 0.1 seconds). With eyes fixed to their head, they saccade their bodies in flight the way we do with our eyes, providing a series of image stabilized moments in motion.

    • Flies are the primary pollinators in certain artic and alpine environments, and they may have been the first pollinators 97 million years ago when flowering plant diversity first bloomed.
    -We depend on them in our food webs as well, a bumper crop for many other animals. The total mass of insects on Earth is falling 2.5%/year, a rate that is 8x other animals.

    • The fruit fly is the most studied animal on Earth
    - They have 135K neurons, with dopamine and serotonin, long-term memory and sleep, and can probably feel pain
    - Largest contributor to the understanding of genetics, with rapid generation cycles.
    - Some GMO variant names: “Ken and Barbie” lack external genitalia. “Cheap Date” is especially susceptible to alcohol. The short-lived “Tin Man” lacks a heart.
    - To study evolution in action, one lineage of fruit fly has been kept in constant darkness since 1954. This lineage has lived and reproduced in the dark for over 1,500 generations. Differentiation of reproductive fitness has already occurred.

    • Getting their freak on:
    - Lovebugs copulate for a continuous 56 hours, flying in unison up to 1,500 ft.
    - Sex-deprived flies turn to alcohol
    - One male fly has a penis as long as his body
    - A small fly holds the record for the longest sperm of any animal of any size — over 6cm long! Not a typo.
    - Females have co-evolved matching receptacles, even sporting sperm sorting pouches for selecting from multiple donors.

    • The baby maggots are pretty amazing too:
    - An example: the scuttle flies drop a single egg on the thorax of their target ant. The maggot wiggles into the head of the ant, carefully munching on the big mandible muscles, but avoiding the brain for two weeks. Then it releases an enzyme that dissolves the membrane that holds the ant’s head to the body. The head falls off and provides a protective shell for the growing larva.
    - Maggots are carrion and dung recyclers. In places where dogs and vultures are scarce, they consume most of a carcass. Without flies, we would be awash in organic waste. Billions are grown for composting and industrial protein production.
    - Flies can smell a dead body from 40 miles away, and they arrive with such predictable rapidity, that they are used in forensics to date the time of death to one hour of accuracy. The colonizing larvae can even squeeze through the gaps in closed zipper teeth or suitcases holding murder victims.
    - Tsetse fly larva are ¾ the length of the mother at birth

    • Almost all of us eat insects every day. 25% of humanity eats insects intentionally.
    Images in this review
  • Paul Shapiro
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
    Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2021
    Just when you thought humans were the dominant animal on the planet, Jonanthan Balcombe swoops in with his characteristically entertaining prose to remind us that for each one of us, there are actually 17 million flies. Yet how much do we know about these ubiquitous and important creatures? After reading their riveting story here, you'll not only cure yourself of Diptera ignorance, but you'll have the most interesting stories to tell at any party you attend.
  • Jay D
    5.0 out of 5 stars interesting read
    Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2021
    ok Ill admit that i was a bit surprised. I bought the book after reading a review and was surprised by how interesting and well written it was. This is not a book of facts but a well written informational piece. Loved it
  • BP
    5.0 out of 5 stars Who knew all the good flies do?
    Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2022
    A science-based look at flies (which include mosquitoes). Some of their harmful effects are well known. The benefits and importance of flies are surprising and fascinating.
  • A. Baxter
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great naturalist authors of our time
    Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2025
    I was previously a fan of Jonathan Balcombe from reading his previous book, "What a Fish Knows". I love that book so much I keep a copy in our living room in hopes that guests will pick it up and start a discussion. I have given numerous copies as gifts to friends.

    So, when "Super Fly" was released, I was interested because of the author even though I knew little about the subject. I subscribe to Balcombe's email newsletter so I heard about this book and ordered it as soon as it was available. I was not disappointed. His writing style, combined with his breadth of research knowledge and compassion for all creatures makes for a truly fascinating read. I guarantee it will make most people think about insects in ways they haven't before

    Balcombe is certainly a well known expert in his field of Biology, but I believe it is only a matter of time before he becomes a household name. The world needs more people like him, willing to champion the creatures that most humans take for granted, and capable of explaining in simple terms why each and every one of us should care for other living creatures, whether they are fish, fly, or anything else.

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