Dr Bryan Lessard is obsessed with insects, which is lucky, because it’s his job. Picture: CSIRO

But entomologist Bryan Lessard has other ideas. He’s bonkers about flies and describes maggots as “the original hipsters” because they eat organic and are so good at recycling.

“They can decompose any organic matter and recycle it into essential nutrients that can be used by other plants, animals and fungus,” Dr Lessard says.

Blow fly maggots, Dr Lessard continues, have numerous applications including in forensics and medicine.

“Maggot therapy [is] where the sterile maggots are used to treat the rotten flesh for wounds like diabetic ulcers,” he says.

“The larvae will only eat the necrotic tissue and they won’t actually invade the living tissue.”

Dr Lessard explains the maggots “have antibacterial saliva, so they can ward off secondary infection. And get this, the actual wriggling sensation of the larvae can promote circulation”.

“It’s creepy — on paper — but it actually allows the patients to be treated in the comfort of their own home,” he says.

Dr Lessard is a postdoctoral research fellow at CSIRO’s Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra. However, he prefers the more approachable title of: “Bry the fly guy.”

Today (Saturday, September 3), he is giving a talk at Tedx Canberra about his passion for these reviled insects.

“Are you in love yet?” Dr Lessard will cheerfully ask his audience, as he shows them a stunning photo of a Lecomyia notha under the microscope — a fly with an incredible purple-blue sheen.

OK, this is pretty impressive. Picture: Queensland MuseumSource:Supplied

“It’s another example of how gorgeous and spectacular flies can look. It looks like an opal with a shining body,” he enthuses.

Dr Lessard achieved worldwide notoriety in 2011 when he named a variety of horse fly after singer Beyoncé. The moment he found Plinthina beyonceae is one he won’t forget.

During his PhD research he became an expert on horse flies. On this occasion, he pulled open a drawer of unidentified fly specimens at the Australian National Insect Collection and “the bright shining golden abdomen caught my eye”.

“I immediately recognised it was one of my flies, but it didn’t look like any of the species in my group. So I took the specimens out and compared them … and realised it was completely new,” he says.

“At the time, there were only three specimens in Australian museums. That was the exact same number of members of [Beyonce’s former girl band] Destiny’s Child. And the specimens were originally collected in 1981, which was the birth year of Beyoncé as well.

“I thought, what better way to generate a bit of interest about taxonomy than naming it after the bootylicious Beyoncé,” he laughs, adding: “I did not know it’d become a viral sensation.”

Plinthina beyonceae. Picture: CSIROSource:Supplied

Actual Beyonce. Picture: Kevin Mazur/WireImageSource:Supplied

Newspapers in the United States and Britain wrote about Plinthina beyonceae and Dr Lessard says it was even “the punchline in one of Ellen DeGeneres’ monologues on her show. And I was just flabbergasted.”

News.com.au stalked Beyoncé’s publicist for days to see what Queen Bee thought about a fellow insect being named after her. Her response? “I don’t have a comment on this,” followed by two bee emojis.

Dr Lessard first became interested in flies when he was studying biology at the University of Wollongong in 2006 and he stumbled across forensic entomology — the application of insects to legal matters.

“Blow flies can lay their eggs on a corpse within minutes of death, so they’re thought to be pretty accurate indicators of the minimum time since death,” he says.

“And the size of a maggot is a general indication of its age. So that’s how you can work out how long the corpse has been there.”

Just some of the specimens at the CSIRO Australian National Insect Collection. Picture: CSIROSource:Supplied

While researching his PhD in numerous Australian and overseas locations, his passion for flies deepened. Not only did he notice their diverse colours but their “cute mannerisms” too.

He watched horse flies dancing “in the air and doing courtship dances” and pollinating flowers by sticking “their long mouth parts into the head of the flower like a humming bird”.

“They kind of get their beards covered in pollen,” he explains with a smile.

In his Tedx talk, Dr Lessard will point out that pollination by insects contributes six billion dollars to the Australian economy annually.

“Pollination globally is worth about $250 billion each year. So it’s quite a significant economic driver in the world,” he says.

Dr Lessard believes one particular fly — the black soldier fly or Hermetia illucens — could be the answer to feeding the world’s growing population. But he’s not suggesting humans should eat flies.

According to Dr Lessard, the black soldier fly’s larvae, are “eating machines” that quickly convert organic matter into nutrients.

“You can think of them as wriggling protein bars,” he says.

“Researchers in the United States, South Africa and also here in Australia are transforming this black soldier fly larvae into a sustainable livestock feed,” he continues.

On top of this, he says the black soldier flies contain oil. He envisages a world of cars run on “fly-o-diesel”.

The soldier fly turns out to be incredibly useful. Picture: CSIROSource:Supplied

“We could extract this oil and can turn it into fly-o-diesel [and] … take the strain off of fossil fuels,” he says.

And just in case you’re still doubtful about the value of flies, he is holding a trump card. Chocolate.

“The cocoa pollinator is a tiny little midge fly about the size of a pinhead. And they’re small enough to get into the flower. Because they have a sweet tooth they go from flower to flower looking for nectar and in doing so, cross-pollinate. So without these flies there would be no chocolate,” he says.

Byran in his happy place. Picture: CSIROSource:Supplied

Ginger Gorman is an award winning print and radio journalist.

Disclaimer: Ginger is also speaking at Tedx Canberra this year, which is how she met Bryan.