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Cuterebra buccata
They are variously known by common names such as warble flies, heel flies, and gadflies. Cuterebra sp. flies are large, hairy, and characterized by the absence of a functional mouth. Their life span is short (about 10 days for adults) and aimed only at the reproduction of the species. The parasitic larvae of several species, including this one, can infest rabbits and other lagomorphs, as well as human beings and other animals such as dogs, foxes, cats, and minks. When the botfly larva emerges from the egg, it migrates onto a host and enters the body through breaks in the skin or any natural openings, after which it penetrates the mucosa. The larva then migrate further in the body, using the trachea and the abdominal cavity to move to a subcutaneous location. There it will develop a 2-3 cm long furunculoid cystic structure, with a fistula (respiratory hole) at the surface of the skin, and swelling of the subcutaneous tissues. Larvae of C. buccata can infest the entire abdominal region (especially the inguinal area, abdomen or shoulders). [info from http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseas... According to Jeff Boettner of BugGuide.net, they have lost the ability to feed as adults. But losing mouth parts must be fairly recent evolution, as Dr. Stoffolono at UMASS-Amherst is seeing that some of the bots do still have hints of feeding parts inside when you cut them open. But by not having to feed or poop, all that unused organ space can be used to lay more eggs and they can lay thousands of eggs. Most are wasted, laying them where rabbits never encounter them. Considering that they likely lay 2,000 or more eggs, and they only need 1-2 to make it to keep the population stable.
North America. Spotted at the Carolina Tiger Rescue sanctuary.
I believe this is my second spotting of a species not yet posted on Project Noah. :)
Spotted on May 3, 2012
Submitted on May 5, 2012
20 Comments
It's all good :) Thanks, and the "amazing" feeling was the same for me.
Hi Rick - sorry for the late response as I haven't been on Noah the past week. When I spotted this one, it was the first (and so far last) time I had seen this insect. It was really amazing to me.
Thanks.... I was wondering if you have ever seen one before? because I did not know anything like this was in the US until I found it.
Rick, check out the link to my spotting below, to see more of this flies life cycle.
Nice shots :) it looks like you and I are the only people who have "PN spotted" one. Have you ever seen one before?
This spotting could be the culprit for the spotting of Dandoucette yesterday. Look here: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/122...
Fantastic detail and beautiful series.
It is very creepy. The idea of an adult with no mouth was very strange to me, too; nature is populated by some truly odd organisms.
Very interesting - though also the stuff of nightmares! I wonder if this is where they got the idea for the Alien movies?
amazing spotting. it is actually beautiful!
Awesome.
Great spotting and very interesting info.
Awesome series and fly!
or someone who has a pet rabbit that gets infected! I was surprised to read they also can infect people and other animals. The photos of infected rabbits I saw were not nice. But it remains interesting to me that there are insects with no mouths and the face on this one looks like a mask or something.
Very cool... Unless you're a rabbit.
Thanks, Argy! I had never seen anything like this, so it was quite a find for me.
Fantastic spotting. Never heard of this although I've seen cattle bot flies. Spectacular.... poor rabbits that meet this fly. Super shots MdeB.
Thanks, Jake and Dan. Yes, PNoah used my e-mail name when I signed up; as some people were addressing me by that and some with my given name, I finally changed the ID to my given name.
Nice
Great spotting! I didn't know there were botfiy in the US. I'm always concerned about getting parasitized by them in the Amazon. You were nopayahnah before, right?