Regal Blowfly

Description:

Identification: Medium-sized (wingspan 16 mm), with orange head and red eyes, metallic greenish black body with violet reflections, and black stripe along fore margin of wings.

Habitat:

Variety of vegetation types, aggregating on fresh corpses, but also (like others in the genus) frequenting flowers. Very common and widespread in Africa.

Notes:

Biology: Lays egg masses in shaded places on freshly dead animals. Within a day or two the corpse is covered in a mass of larvae, which migrate together into the soil to pupate after 4-6 days.