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NEBot Fly!! While working in my garden I found a dead vole with two very large bot fly larvae emerging from its hind end. The larvae burrowed out from under the skin of the vole using an undulating motion like a caterpillar. They plopped to the ground and quickly burrowed into the soil using the same motion. Underground they will pupate and wait out the winter. Next summer a large fly will emerge from the pupae. Females will mate and then do something REALLY COOL, they will capture a live mosquito and lay eggs on its abdomen and then release it. Those eggs are heat sensitive and when the mosquito lands on a rodent or rabbit the body heat causes them to hatch. Little fly larvae drop to the skin and burrow into the skin where they feed off their host until ready to repeat the cycle. Don’t worry, here in Minnesota we don’t have human bot flies, they live much farther south…for now…. #botfly #insects #nature #circleoflife #natureismetal #insectphotography
@neature_seeker
