The finches of the Galapagos Islands that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution are in danger of extinction due to a parasite killing the birds' young.

According to BBC News, authors of a study published in The Journal of Applied Ecology projected the finches have about 50 years before dying out. The researchers also believe the fly carrying the parasite can be controlled with pesticides.

"Darwin's finches are one of the best examples we have of speciation," study first author Jennifer Koop, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth who performed the research as a University of Utah doctoral student, said in a press release. "They were important to Darwin because they helped him develop his theory of evolution by natural selection."

For their study, the researchers examined the most common of the dozen or more species of Galapagos finches, the medium ground finch. They found the flies were depositing parasitic larvae in the birds' nests.

"They are maggots basically, is what they are," study senior author Dale Clayton, of the University of Utah, told BBC News. "Some of the eggs are laid in the nostrils of the nestlings so those eggs hatch and the larvae begin feeding immediately in the nostrils so you see perforations through the bill in especially bad cases.

"They are pretty nasty customers."

The researchers are optimistic exterminating the fly will save the finches and also help them live much longer as well.

"We predict they will no longer go extinct," Clayton said in the release. "There will be a rapid evolutionary response by the birds, and their immune systems would rapidly develop the ability to combat the fly. That happens in other animals. The question is, will these finches have enough time to develop effective defenses before they are driven to extinction by the fly? It's an arms race."