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Sticker of Yellow-faced blowfly
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Yellow-faced blowfly

Cynomya mortuorum

The yellow-faced blowfly is a shiny blue-green fly with a bright yellow face. It likes cold places, like the north and high hills. Its young help clean up nature by eating dead animals.

Lives in
Northern Europe, Asia and North America, often in cool hills and woodland edges
Length
0.8 to 1.5 cm (0.31 to 0.59 in)
Top speed
about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting. Wash your hands after touching anything dead.
What does it eat?
Its larvae eat dead animals, from fish to mice and sometimes sheep. The adults eat pollen from flowers.
For real!Photo of Yellow-faced blowfly
Picture by Pudding4brains. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Yellow-faced blowfly about 1.5 cm long (0.59 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 34 secondsmoves 200 times its own body length every second

How big is Yellow-faced blowfly compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is a cold-loving fly, and in England it is found mostly high up in the hills.

2

Its eggs are bigger than those of most other blowflies.

3

The adults sip pollen from flowers from May to September.

4

Scientists study how fast its young grow, because it helps them learn how long something has been lying in nature.

you asked

Most asked questions about Yellow-faced blowfly

?What does the yellow-faced blowfly eat?

The adults eat pollen. The larvae eat dead animals and help clean up nature.

?Is the yellow-faced blowfly dangerous?

No. It does not bite or sting.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Cynomya mortuorum
Named by
Linnaeus, 1761
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Calliphoridae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Calliphoridae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Cynomya mortuorum (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 Pudding4brains. Public domain, 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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