Saturday 13 August 2016

Botfly


Botfly larvae are the things of nightmares.  The human Botfly (Dermatobia Hominis) female will capture a mosquito and attach her eggs to it's body and let it go.  Once the mosquito lands on a human (and some other primates) the eggs will enter at he point of the mosquito bite to incubate for 8 weeks in the subcutaneous layers of the skin. It will fall out and develop for a further week in the ground.



This species is native to the Americas from Southeastern Mexico (beginning in central Veracruz) to northern Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. The adult fly is quite large and resembles a bumblebee.



Here is a video of Botfly larvae removals.  Be warned, it's cringe inducing.  also if you suffer from Trypophobia it might trigger that too.



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