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Sticker of Banded blowfly
Bug card No. 0265 of 4,939

Banded blowfly

Chrysomya albiceps
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsFlies and mosquitoesHouses and farms6 legs

The banded blowfly is a shiny fly whose body glitters metallic blue to green. It has a super nose for smells. It can sniff out a dead animal from very far away and is often the first insect to arrive.

Lives in
Africa, southern Europe and Asia, and since the 1970s also South America
Length
6 to 9 mm (0.24 to 0.35 in)
Top speed
about 8.5 km/h (5.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Dangerous: look, do not touch
It does not bite or sting, but it carries germs and can lay its eggs in open wounds of animals and, rarely, people. Look, do not touch, keep cuts clean and covered, and tell a grown-up if there are lots of these flies around.

Watch out! Read how to stay safe on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
The grown-ups feed on rotting things, droppings and flowers. Its maggots start out eating dead animals, and later hunt the maggots of other flies.
For real!Photo of Banded blowfly
Picture by Alvesgaspar. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Banded blowfly about 9 mm long (0.35 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailas long as 1.5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 44 secondsmoves 260 times its own body length every second

How big is Banded blowfly compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It can smell a dead animal from up to 16 kilometres away.

2

Its bigger maggots are fierce hunters that eat the maggots of other fly kinds.

3

In the male the eyes nearly touch each other in the middle of the head.

4

When it is warm, it takes about 66 days to grow from an egg into a fly.

5

It is very common around the Mediterranean Sea and in the Middle East.

you asked

Most asked questions about Banded blowfly

?How far can a blowfly smell?

This one can smell a dead animal from up to 16 kilometres away.

?How big is the banded blowfly?

It is 6 to 9 millimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Chrysomya albiceps
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Calliphoridae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Calliphoridae
Lives on
Africa, Europe, Asia, South America

Where the facts come from

  1. Chrysomya albiceps (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Alvesgaspar. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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.

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