Calliphora vomitoria

Blue Bottle Flies are from the Blow Fly family. They are larger than house flies, growing about half an inch long. Their head and thorax (front and middle sections) are gray, the abdomen (large rear section) is bright metallic blue. They have red eyes and clear wings. Blue Bottle Flies live just about anywhere, including woods, fields, parks, and farms. They seem to prefer shady places. Blue Bottle Flies often enter homes. This fly eats from dead animals or meat, living animals with open wounds, animal poop, or some other decaying matter.

© Garden Safarie, http://www.gardensafari.net/

After mating, the female Blue Bottle Flies lays her eggs in the same place she feeds, usually in a dead animal. The eggs quickly hatch, and the young larvae, called maggots, eat immediately. The maggots are whitish with small black hooks to tear flesh with. Their saliva helps dissolve (melt) the flesh so they can eat it more easily. After a week or so of feeding, the larvae crawl away to a dry place and burrow a little ways into soil. They then become pupae (resting stage). Pupae are tough brown coccoons. After two or three weeks, adult Blue Bottle Flies come out of the pupae.

Blue Bottle Flies breed often during the warm months. Both larvae and pupae can live through the winter, but adults die when it gets too cold. Blue Bottle Flies sometimes lay eggs in the wound of a living animal. The larvae, when they hatch, eat from the host animal. This is called "myiasis" and can cause infections in the animal. Because these flies are attracted to foul-smelling things, like dead animals and poop, they sometimes fly to plants with bad-smelling flowers (like Greenbrier) or fungi (like Elegant Stinkhorn). Blue Bottle Flies end up helping these organisms because they transport pollen or spores so that they can grow new plants or mushrooms.

© Garden Safarie, http://www.gardensafari.net/

Predators of Blue Bottle Flies include spiders, birds, and bats. Larvae and pupae may be eaten by beetles or centipedes.