Blue Bottle Fly

Taxobox

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = Blue bottle fly
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Hexapoda
classis = Insecta
subclassis = Pterygota
infraclassis = Neoptera
superordo = Endopterygota|
ordo = Diptera
subordo = Brachycera
infraordo = Muscomorpha
zoosubsectio = Calyptratae
superfamilia = Oestroidea
familia = Calliphoridae
subfamilia = Calliphorinae
tribus = Calliphorini
genus = "Calliphora"
species = "C. vomitoria"
binomial = "Calliphora vomitoria"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)
synonyms ="Calliphora rubrifrons" Townsend "Musca obscoena" Eschscholz "Musca vomitoria" Linnaeus Sources: ITIS,ITIS|ID=151559|taxon="Calliphora vomitoria"|year=2008|date=31 May] A/ODCcite web
url = http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/aocat/calliphoridae.html
title = 109. Family CALLIPHORIDAE
accessdate = 2008-05-31
last = Kurahshi
first = Hiromu
date = 2007-05-28
format = HTML
work = Australasian/Oceanian Diptera Catalog
publisher = Hawaii Biological Survey]

The blue bottle fly or bottlebee ("Calliphora vomitoria") is a common blow-fly found in most areas of the world and is the type species for the genus "Calliphora".

Description

It is 10-14 mm long, slightly larger than a housefly. The head and thorax are dull gray and the abdomen is bright metallic blue with black markings. Its body and legs are covered with black bristle-like hair. The eyes are red and the wings are clear. The legs and antennae are black.

Life cycle

A female blue bottle fly lays her eggs where she feeds, usually in decaying meat, garbage, or feces. Pale whitish larvae, commonly called maggots, soon hatch from the eggs and immediately begin feeding on the decomposing matter where they were hatched. After a few days of feeding, they are fully grown. At that time they will crawl away to a dry place where they can burrow into soil or similar matter to pupate into tough brown coccoons. After two or three weeks, the adults emerge to mate, beginning the cycle again. During cold weather, pupae and adults can hibernate until warmer temperatures revive them.Fact|date=May 2008 They have the ability to smell meat from distances of 7 kilometers away.cite web
url = http://www.thatsweird.net/facts6.shtml
title = Weird Animals - Strange But True Facts
accessdate = 2008-05-31
format = HTML
work = Facts Archive]

They are pollinators of some flowers with a strong odor such as skunk cabbage and goldenrod.Fact|date=May 2008

References

External links