Found this in the Water…….
Location: Great Bend Zoo, Great Bend Kansas
February 2, 2011 5:06 pm
While tending to a busted waterline at the Great Bend Zoo, we found 2 of these swimming around in the freezing water. Temperature was about -2 with a windchill factor of -10 at the time we found them.
Signature: Johnny Z.
Horse Fly Larva
Hi Johnny,
You found a Horse Fly Larva. You can compare your photo to the one on the Horse Flies and Deer Flies of Kentucky website. Female Horse Flies which are also known as Gadflies feed upon blood and lay their eggs on plants near the water’s edge. Most Horse Flies have aquatic larvae, but some Horse Fly larvae develop in damp earth.
Daniel Marlos,
Thank you so very much for such a fast response. We weren’t quite for sure what it was, but we had guessed a larva of some sort.
Again, thank you for the fast response 
Johnny Z.
-Zoo Keeper/Safety Officer, Great Bend-Brit Spaugh Zoo
Bug identification
Location: Raumati Beach, North Island, New Zealand
January 24, 2011 8:06 pm
Found this floating/swimming in a rainwater filled pot plant saucer in the back garden. It’s about 5 cm long from tip to tail. Wondering what it is.
Signature: Regards, Karen
Rattailed Maggot
Hi Karen,
This is the larva of the Drone Fly and it is commonly called a Rattailed Maggot.
Unknown bug.
Location: on the coast of Wollongong, New south Wales, Australia
January 2, 2011 5:32 am
Hello, Im Rebecca Mather,
I was doing the dishes tonight and noticed something odd on the dried out spounge. Just under 1 mm long, White several tiny black lines across its body seperating the bug, like a grub or something.
Just curious as to what it is. Our unit is very high up, has those invisible security screens and we have no pets. so im not sure how it got in and if its a potential problem.
If you could identify it, i would be really grateful.
Thank you.
Signature: Rebecca Mather
Carpet Beetle Larvae or Maggots, or something else????
Dear Rebecca,
It is impossible to make an identification based on your photo, but we are guessing that you have either Carpet Beetle Larvae or Fly Maggots. Either might be feeding on organic material that has accumulated on the sponge.
This is a bit gross
Location: Malapascua, Visayas, Philippines
December 28, 2010 11:23 pm
So, I admit this is a gross way to discover a new bug, but here goes.
So I’m currently vacationing on Malapascua, a small island in the Philippines.
I was in the toilet, doing my thing, and when I finished I stood up to flush and this thing was in there wriggling around.
At first I was terrified that it was some parasite or something that had come out, as it were. But now I’m thinking that’s impossible, it’s just too big. Still, I was completely freaking out, hence the fishing and photographing.
What is this thing? The white debris on it is…err… toilet paper.
Signature: Sorry…
Fly Maggot
Dear Sorry,
This appears to be a Fly Maggot, but we have no theories as to why it was found in the toilet. Though certain flies are parasites, Maggots are not known to be internal parasites within the human gastrointestinal tract.
Karl believes this is a Soldier Fly Larva
Hi Daniel and Sorry…
This is just a thought, but it looks a lot like a Soldier Fly (Stratiomyidae) larva, perhaps even a Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens), also known as the Window Fly. The species is native to southeastern USA but it is also widespread in the tropics, including the Philippines. There are quite a few pictures of larvae, pupae and adults on the WTB? site if you do a search. Black Soldier Fly maggots have become quite popular with people interested in composting and manure management (with some interest developing in the Philippines), and in parts of the world they are also raised as feed for fish or domestic fowl. I found this site that promotes the culture of the maggots for Swiftlet farming in Malaysia (as in harvesting bird nests for soup). It could be some other species but I think this is getting close. They apparently crawl around quite a bit when they are looking for a place to pupate so perhaps that is how this one blundered into the toilet. By the way, I believe this individual has its rear end facing the camera so the toilet paper would be appropriate. Regards. Karl
decade old nightmare. Maggots that ate live kittens/bunnies?
September 2, 2010 1:57 am
Dear Man of Bugs,
First and foremost I apologize I have no photos, but this horrific season took place a good ten years ago, and photographic evidence would only serve to scar you the way I am now irrevocably scarred.
When I was younger, I lived in Kentucky. We had a rabbit farm. Come warm weather, all the rabbits had their precious babies and the barn cats had kittens. One day I went to look at these precious darling bunnies, these tiny miracles, and when I pulled back the fur in the nesting box… they were basically mutilated. I very clearly remember the writhing maggots (white) and the lesions on LIVING creatures. I found the same waking nightmare on the barn kittens. The common link was all the animals were too yong to be mobile, and seemed to have pus in their eyes/diarrhea, and seemed thin. I do not know if this is because the gates of hell unleashed meat eating maggots on them, or they got these parasites because they were ill. I am still very traumatized by this, partly because nobody here up north believes me or can relate. I spent the rest of that summer guarding my dog’s litter of puppies, keeping them dry, warm, clean, and healthy. I truly believe my anxiety disorder started w
ith these unspeakable terrors. I learned, Bug Man, that something that looks as harmless as a grain of rice can devour your flesh, and really quickly. Life suddenly wasn’t so carefree anymore. Kittens can literally be stripped of their hides and life doesn’t care. Chilling, for a twelve year old.
I know I wasn’t delusional (well, at least back then.) Did I manage to fall through a rip in time and space and I was actually IN hell, or do these things writhe the earth?
Thanks very much for your time.
Susan
Dear Susan,
Without a photograph, our response is purely speculative. There is a family of Flies known as Bot Flies whose larvae are endoparasites on mammals, but your encounter was probably with the Maggots of Blow Flies. Here is a National Geographic story on the benefits of treating wounds with maggots. As your letter indicates, sickly newborn creatures might be infested with maggots and not survive the encounter.
Spotted-Wing Drosophila Maggot
Location: Edmonds, Washington
July 30, 2010 12:21 am
Hello Daniel, just got back from our trip (to the beach, of course) and here are the promised pics of a dratted SWD maggot found in one of my raspberries. As opposed to the normally clear raspberry juice that a bruised berry exudes, notice the opaque, milky quality to the juice that is found in the bottom of raspberries infested with the maggots, in the one pic where I’ve pinched it up from the bottom of the interior of the berry.
Cherry Vinegar Fly Maggot in Raspberry
This milky juice has consistently been a sure marker of infested berries. I included several pics for you to choose from, most including at least one drupe of the berry for size comparison.
Love the Fuzzy Bottom Girls moniker and great pics of the trio!
Cheers, BeachDee
Cherry Vinegar Fly Maggot
Hi again BeachDee,
Though we sympathize with your infestation, we are thrilled that you have supplied our readership with this recent Invasive Exotic agricultural pest from Japan, the Spotted Winged Drosophila or Cherry Vinegar Fly, Drosophila suzukii (see BugGuide). We were inspired to collectively name the new hens as an homage to the name of the musical group The Soggy Bottom Boys in the Coen Brothers film “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Cherry Vinegar Fly Maggot
Fresh Water Grub, found under a rock in a small stream.
June 1, 2010
We found this fresh water grub in a stream in West Virginia. Pics can be zoomed in quite a bit, they’re high quality.
Robert Piazza
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Cranefly Larva
Dear Robert,
If we didn’t know you had found this in an aquatic environment, we might have identified this as a Botfly Larva. We just found a photo on BugGuide that looks quite similar. The problem is that Botfly Larvae are internal parasites, and are not found in aquatic environments. This is a mystery, and we hope someone can assist in this identification. We cannot imagine this being anything other than a Fly Larva.
Thanks for your reply, I’ll do some more research and see what I can find. If I learn anything new about it, I’ll be sure to let you know.
Cranefly
Several people provided comments that this is a Cranefly Larva.
Found alive in home-made wine. What is it?
April 10, 2010
Hello. At a party in October 2009 some friends brought home-made wine. Someone noticed something floating – and moving – in their glass. Removed one, and took photographs using macro setting on my camera. It was tiny, maybe 3 millimeters in length? A fair amount of wine was consumed before noticing the swimmers, and it would be nice to know what they were. The wine was made in “classic” fashion – without a lot of regard for health and safety concerns. (Obviously!) It was made in Summer/Fall 2009, in an earthenware jug with a cheesecloth “stopper”. (I know, I know…) I did not drink any of the wine, but my friends did. So what did they actually consume? I hope you can help!
Lincoln
New Brunswick, Canada
Vinegar Fly Maggot
Hi Lincoln,
We believe this is the larva of a Vinegar Fly in the family Drosophilidae, a group also called Pomace Flies. They are commonly called Fruit Flies, though that name is more correctly reserved for members of another family of flies that are agricultural pests. The Fruit Fly of genetics experiments is actually a Vinegar Fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The larvae develop in fermenting fruit, including spirits like beer and wine. Vinegar Flies are often found in restaurants and bars where they are attracted to the open bottles, and finding dead flies in the bottles can become a health code violation. Though the thought of fly larvae in the wine may not be appetizing, no harm would come from accidental consumption. BugGuide does not have any images of the larvae of Vinegar Flies, but we did find a nice sketch of the life cycle of Drosophila on the Biology Department of Kenyon College website.
Mr. Marlos,
Thank you most kindly for your response!
I will pass along your information to the people who *did* drink the wine…along with a stern lecture on cleanliness and safety!
Thank you also for correcting a long-held misconception on my part. I had always thought that “Drosophila” and “Fruit Fly” were synonymous. I shall now know them as Vinegar Flies! And I will do my best not to ingest any of them…if at all possible!
I am replying via e-mail and not via a comment at the website, as I am not a member, and therefore I could not log in.
But I definitely wanted to pass along my appreciation.
(On the subject of the website, whenever I click on the link to my posting:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2010/04/11/vinegar-fly-maggot-whats-that-in-my-wine/
I just get a blank page. I am not sure if this is a serious problem, but I thought you should know.)
Please take care.
Thank you for your interesting and informative website!
Lincoln (from Canada) -
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