Callifora spp.

SPECIES: Calliphora spp. ( order Diptera )

COMMON NAME: Blowfly

SIZE: 10 - 12 mm

LIFECYCLE: about a week. The larvae develop very quickly.

FEATURES: larger than the flies, metallic colours, noisy during flight. Often, especially in houses, warehouses and garages, large numbers of these flies is a clear sign of the presence of a corpse. More than 300 larvae can be born from the carcass of a single rat. Development is continuous throughout the year but tends to become extended during the winter months because of low temperatures.

HABITAT: near fishmongers, slaughterhouses, landfills, etc. They prefer to lay in very flaky meat, and can smell the corpse from several km away. Only in the absence of these will they eggs on droppings and other decaying material.

DAMAGE: These flies lay eggs on meat or protein substances, including the dead bodies of small animals (rats etc.) and are therefore dangerous carriers of pathogens. Human ingestion of infected food (fortunately quite rare event today) is harmful.

I want to sterminate it