Mouse bot fly
The mouse bot fly is a black and yellow fly that looks a lot like a bee. Its babies grow up under the skin of mice, mostly the white-footed mouse. The grown-up flies cannot even eat and live only a short time.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The female lays up to 2,000 eggs on plants near the homes of mice.
The eggs hatch when a warm mouse brushes past, and the tiny larvae climb on.
The males guard their own patch, flying in figure-eight and oval loops to chase other males away.
Its pupa can rest in the ground for up to a whole year if the weather is bad.
It likes leafy forests near running streams, especially along the edges.
Most asked questions about Mouse bot fly
?Is the mouse bot fly dangerous to people?
Very rarely. Its larvae have been found in people only in rare cases. The grown-up fly cannot bite or sting.
?What does the mouse bot fly look like?
It is a black and yellow fly that looks a lot like a bee.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Cuterebra fontinella
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Oestridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Oestridae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Cuterebra fontinella (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 USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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