The cuterebra austeni or commonly known as the Botfly is very interesting animal,  when it’s a larva it goes in to small rodents and feed on them for about three weeks until its old enough to fly around.  The botfly can range from about 15mm to about 42mm in length and about 7 to 10mm in width.  You can find the botfly around northern America in the Arizona area and down in Mexico.  The Botfly is a grayish white when it’s younger but when it gets older it gets reddish brown.  I will explain the general description, the habitat the population, and their diet and their feeding habits.

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  The cuterebra austeni is actually really cool animal and they are very smart.  The general size of the Botfly is around 15 mm when there not old but when they get older they could reach up to 45mm in length and about 10mm in width.  When the Bot fly is young the color is like a faded gray and when they get older it turns to like a reddish brown color.  They lay there larva near a din so when the host animal comes by it can grab on then enter by the mouth.  They live for a total of at most three months and during that time they grow up and then mate and lay their larva then die.  That’s the way the Botfly looks and It adaptations.

The Botfly originates from northern America and in Mexico.  My animal is found in Arizona and many locations over by Arizona it can be found on hills and mountains.

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Diets and feeding habits are very important for the Botfly’s health.  The larva feeds mostly on small rodents such as squeals, rats, and rabbits.  The Botfly will go in to any open hole or space on the body and dig under the skin like a tick. The botfly is very clever its lays it eggs by a din or hole so when something goes by the eggs will stick on them and then just feed on you for about three weeks until it drops off of you.  A way to kill a botfly is to kill off the air supply because the larva is a parasite so if a animal try’s to eat a botfly it will just get a parasite.  That’s all for the feeding habits and its diet of the botfly.

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My animal isn’t that important to the world it just gives things parasites to things.  The thing that stood out about to me about my animal is how it gets on the body.  This animal is kind of creepy because just every about it is. 

 

Author: Tyler S.
published: 2/13

 

sources:

http://wiki.bugwood.org/HPIPM:Rodent_Bots, http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/bspm/extension%20and%20outreach/Rodent%20Bots.pdf,http://www.ehow.com/about_6573214_life-cycle-cuterebra.html , http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig139

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Photo Credit: 

https://bugguide.net/node/view/260344/bgpage