Ancient Day Flies

Age and time are quite relative, my dear friend. While a week might not seem that long to us, to a day fly it is an incomprehensibly long period.

The term "Ancient Day Fly" is used to refer to a small subpopulation of adult day flies, which in sharp contracts to the rest of their species exhibit an extraordinarily long lifespan of up to three years.
While this timespan at first doesn't seem all that impressive, given that many species in Cenorad can live for several centuries if not millenniums, to an adult day fly this is a downright eldritch amount of time, given that their life can usually be measured in hours if not minutes.
Unlike other creatures and individuals who manage to live far beyond their natural lifespan, the longevity of the Ancient Day Fly is neither the result of an intentional plan nor a cruel punishment but is instead entirely accidentally.
For Ancient Day Flies receive their long-lasting life as the side effect of an unintentional infection with a rare fungal lifeform, known as a Wingclipper Mold, which normally feeds off the digestive system of various species of birds.
Given the great discrepancy between the lifespan of the mold's usual hosts and a regular day fly, the mold is forced to abandon its parasitic lifestyle and instead switch to a symbiotic approach in order to extend the fly's life for long enough to be able to switch to a more suitable host.

Basic Information

Anatomy

While the external anatomy of an Ancient Day Fly remains relatively unchanged, apart from a white-colored fungal meshwork at its abdomen, their internal anatomy is heavily remodeled by the Wingclipper Mold in order to better allow the fungi to replace the fly's digestive system, which it had lost during the last stage of its metamorphosis.

Genetics and Reproduction

As Ancient Day Flies are merely the product of a parasitic fungus attempting to survive within a dead-end host, they don't reproduce but instead, sporadically appear whenever such an infection occurs.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Ancient Day Flies sustain or rather are sustained by their symbiotic fungi, which in turn consumes a great variety of rotting biomatter.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Ancient Day Flies are commonly nicknamed "Fermenter Flies" as they can be used to create a special brand of alcoholic beverage, known as "Flyshine", which is tradionally made by trapping several flies in a barrel filled with overripe fruits.

Scientific Name

Ephimria brumaris X Orneophothyra muscara

Lifespan

2-3 years

Average Length

3-120 mm, depending on Day Fly species.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

As they grow older their coloration become more and more faded.

Grove of the Ancients

Given that Fungos-flavored Fairy Dust greatly enhances the chances for the creation of an Ancient Day Fly, areas that are heavily permeated by the currents of the Kyfe River are commonly home to entire swarms of these creatures.

Old Brown Wing

"Old Brown Wing" is the name given to the presumed oldest specimen of an Ancient Day Fly, which was discovered living the maze-like undercity of the Iron Ring Atoll.
Unlike other flies of its kind, Old Brown Wing is not infected by a Wingclipper Mold but instead serves as the host for a low-class Mycare Fairy, which enables it to directly tap into the currents of the Kyfe-River and therefore at least theoretically sustains itself indefinitely.
While the actual age of this fly is unknown it is at least several hundred years old, if one assumes that it was created during the events of the Second Spring.