Blow Flies
Bottle Flies

The Blow Fly name comes from an old English term for meat that had eggs in it, which was called "fly blown".

Fly Species

• blow flies, bottle flies, blue bottle flies, green bottle flies, black bottle flies
• Family: Calliphoridae
• Genus: Calliphora (bottle flies), Phormia (black blow fly)

Locations

• The typical habitats for blow flies are temperate to tropical areas that provide loose, damp soil where larvae may thrive and pupate.
• Southern United States, India, Japan, and Central America are the most common areas.

Size

• 1/5 inch (10mm)

Identify

• Shiny metallic blue, green, blue-green, bronze, or black sheen on thorax and abdomen.

Life Cycle

• The entire life cycle is about 10-35 days.
• Eggs hatch in 12-24 hours.
• There are 3 larval stages called "instars" that last 4-5 days.
• After the larval stage, they leave the food source and pupate under ground for 8 to 10 days and emerge as an adult.
• Adult females are ready to reproduce within a week.

Breeding

• Primarily scavengers and deposit their eggs on both fresh and decaying meat, fish, and on dead animals, as well as garbage and fecal matter.
• Stools of dog are important breeding sites of blowflies and bottleflies.
• Eggs may be deposited in the wounds of animals and people, a condition known as myiasis.

Feeding

• Adult blow flies are occasional pollinators, attracted to flowers with a strong odors such as the American pawpaw or Dead Horse Arum.
• There is little doubt that the blow flies use nectar as a source of carbohydrates to fuel flight, but it is still unknown how and when this happens.

Congregation

• Found around rotting meats, decaying carcasses, garbage areas, and around fecal matter

Health Importance

• Adult flies may be able to spread bacterial and viral pathogens via their sponging mouthparts, vomit, intestinal tract, sticky pads of their feet or even their body or leg hairs.
• Causes Myiasis in animals, livestock, but rarely in humans.

How to Kill / Control

To get rid of bottle flies:

• Eliminate breeding grounds
• Sanitation
• Use Fly Traps, Fly Zappers, and Fly Sprays to kill adult flies
• View our Fly Control page for extended information on these methods.

Extra Info

• Blow fly maggots are used in maggot therapy to clean non-healing wounds.
• Forensic entomologists also use the larvae collected at the site of murder victims, to help pin-point the time of death.

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