Ox warble fly
The ox warble fly is a big, hairy fly that looks like a bumblebee. The grown-up fly cannot eat at all and lives only a few days. Its babies grow inside cows, under their skin.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It lays its eggs on the legs of cows, and the tiny larvae dig into the skin.
After a few months the larvae reach the cow's back and make bumps called warbles.
When the grown fly comes out, it leaves a hole in the cow's skin, which spoils leather.
An adult may live for only five days because its mouth does not work.
Farmers got rid of it in many countries, starting with Denmark and West Germany in the 1960s, and Britain in 1990.
Most asked questions about Ox warble fly
?What is a warble?
A bump on the back of a cow where a warble fly larva is growing under the skin.
?Do warble flies still exist?
Yes, but they have been wiped out in many countries, such as Britain.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hypoderma bovis
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Oestridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Oestridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America, Africa
- Also known as
- Heel fly, Bomb fly, Gadfly
Where the facts come from
- Warble fly (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/46/96/bd78dc395b0816b8df7665616a14.jpg Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0022568.html Wellcom. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Housefly
New World screwworm fly
Lovebug
Tsetse fly
Common fruit fly
Asian tiger mosquito
Thief ant
Brown house moth
Lace-webbed spider
Eastern bloodsucking conenose
Cowpea weevil
Asian paper wasp