A tiny fly, related to biting no-see-ums, pollinates cacao trees and enables our chocolate cravings.

一種與蚋有親緣關系的小飛蠅，能夠給可可樹授粉并滿足我們對巧克力的渴求。

撰文\播音：克里斯托弗·因塔利亞塔(Christopher Intagliata)

翻譯：陳美娟

審校：楊青

As you unwrap a Halloween candy or two, it's worth paying your respects to the real reason for many of the treats: a tiny fly whose trick is to make chocolate possible.

當你打開一兩個萬圣節(jié)糖果時，值得把敬意獻給糖果背后的功臣：一種讓巧克力成為可能的小飛蠅。

"They're all in the family Ceratopogonidae, which is the biting midges family. But not all of the adults bite. How we usually do it is we call them 'Cerats.'" Erica McAlister is a fly scientist at the Natural History Museum of London, and author of The Secret Life of Flies.

“它們都屬于會咬人的蠓科，但不是所有的成蟲都會叮咬。我們通常稱其為‘蜢蠅’?！卑惪ā溈ɡ锼固厥莻惗刈匀粴v史博物館的昆蟲學家，同時還是《蠅蟲的秘密》(The Secret Life of Flies)一書的作者。

The "cerats"—related to no-see-ums—do a job that's very hard to get done by hand: they crawl through long, twisty cacao flowers, pollinating the stubborn cacao tree. Which produces the beans used to make chocolate.

“蜢蠅”，這種與蚋有親緣關系的昆蟲，能夠完成用手難以做到的工作：它們爬行在又長又彎的可可花上，給難授粉的可可樹傳粉。這讓可可樹結出用以制作巧克力的可可豆。

"They are really, really difficult to pollinate. So you do need these little things to do it."

“這種植物真的很難很難傳粉，所以需要利用這些小東西來達到目的?！?/p>

And to McAlister, at least, the tiny midges are a beautiful sight to behold. "They look like a very tiny mosquito, but they are basically absolutely covered in hair, they're very beautiful, very hirsute little organisms. And the males have got the most—they look like feather duster antennae. He's got to not only smell for the female, he's listening. And his ears are on the antennae. They're not very robust, these things, they're tiny, as the name implies. They've got nice external genitalia for the boys… I don't know what else you want me to say "

對麥卡里斯特來說，這種小蜢蟲至少看著挺不錯?！八鼈兛雌饋硐裥∥米?，但它們基本上完全被毛發(fā)覆蓋了，他們是非常漂亮、毛發(fā)旺盛的小生物。雄性尤甚——它們的觸角就像羽毛撣子一樣，這個部位不僅可以用來聞雌性的味道，還用來聽聲音，聽覺器官就長在觸角上。它們沒那么活潑好動，這種小東西和它們名字一樣文靜。雄性有著碩大的外部生殖器……我不知道還有什么好說了<笑>。”

Well, here's the bad news: The chocolate midges are in danger, as farmers clear out shade-grown rainforest plots, in favor of sunnier monocultures of cacao. That threatens the tiny flies, which need the damp rotting leaf litter of the forest floor to thrive. But some producers are taking notice.

不過壞消息是：由于農民為了單一巧克力林的陽光更充足，清除了庇蔭的叢林點，這種巧克力蚊正處于危險中，需要潮濕腐葉維系生命的小飛蟲正受到威脅。但這已經(jīng)引起了一些生產(chǎn)者的注意。。

"Obviously our human demand for chocolate has gone up, so now a lot more research is going into fly pollinators, including these as well."

“顯然我們人類對巧克力的需求已經(jīng)增加，所以現(xiàn)在更多研究指向飛蟲傳粉領域，其中就包括這種小飛蟲?！?/p>

As for McAlister? She won't be joining you on that chocolate binge. "I can't stand it. Revolting stuff."

麥卡里斯特怎么看呢？她并不想?yún)⑴c巧克力狂歡。“我受不了，甚至有些反感。”


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