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Bot FliesBot Fly?
Bot Fly
Bot Fly?
Location: Puyallup, WA
August 24, 2010 12:21 am
After doing research on your site, I’m pretty sure this is a Female Bot Fly. What I don’t know is what type? Rodent, Rabbit, or Squirrel. I have to say after reading about them, I’m fairly grossed out. This one was buzzing around in my livingroom window. After letting her go, she hung around long enough for me to take pictures.
Your site is great! Thanks, bettyluvsduncan
Bot Fly
Dear bettyluvsduncan,
You did a very fine job identifying this unusual fly as a Bot Fly in the family Oestridae. We believe it is Cuterebra tenebrosa based on its dark coloration and matching it to images posted to BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Hosts include Neotoma cinerea and N. lepida.“ The genus Neotoma contains Woodrats or Packrats (See link).
Bot Fly
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Comments 2
Hi BettyluvsDuncan,
Posted 23 Jan 2011 at 11:34 am ¶I am pretty confident this is a female Cuterebra approximata which is a parasite of Peromyscus (mice). The female of this species (like yours) is tricky to seperate from C. tenebrosa from pictures. Best done in the hand. Both species occur in your area, but C. tenebrosa uses Neotoma (woodrats) as a host and is a bit rarer as well. But the space between the eyes in your pic better fits C. approximata. I don’t think this species has showed up on BugGuide.net yet? So you might want to cross post it to BugGuide?
Thanks for the post. We don’t see this species east of the Mississippi.
Jeff Boettner
Thanks so much for all your comments on Bot Flies.
Posted 23 Jan 2011 at 5:56 pm ¶Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.
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