Blackbottle
The blackbottle is a big, shiny blowfly with a deep metallic blue body. Its head and legs are black. It lives all across the northern half of the world.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Blackbottle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Scientists found its pupae inside the fossil skull of a bison about 75,000 years old. They look just like today's.
Doctors have used its clean maggots to help heal wounds.
It grows much faster when it is warm. From egg to fly takes about 9 days at 35 degrees, but over a month at 15 degrees.
Its body can shine from dark purple to dark green.
Most asked questions about Blackbottle
?Does the blackbottle bite?
No. It cannot bite or sting people.
?What does the blackbottle eat?
Its maggots feed on dead animals, which helps to clean up nature.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Protophormia terraenovae
- Named by
- Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Calliphoridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Calliphoridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
- Also known as
- Northern blowfly, Blue-bottle fly
Where the facts come from
- Protophormia terraenovae (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 Nikita E. Vikhrev. CC BY 2.5, 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Housefly
New World screwworm fly
Lovebug
Tsetse fly
Common fruit fly
Asian tiger mosquito
Common housefly catcher
Southern pill woodlouse
Brown spitting spider
Common shining cockroach
Arizona house centipede
Grease moth