Some type of fly? - Cuterebra mirabilis

Moved

… Keith Bayless, 15 May, 2009 - 3:08am

Cuterebra mirabilis?

Wow! This may be the rarest insect posted on Bugguide yet! Mirabilis in Latin means extraordinary! And this one is! Hard to positively ID from pics, but clearly a lagomorph bot from the nice red eye pattern. Very few bots with combination of red eye line, red legs, overall dark body, and dark face, all narrows this one to Cuterebra pinceps subgroup. The nice line in the face ahead of the eye makes me stick my neck out and want to add this as another record for C. mirabilis, but I have never seen this species in person (and neither have many other people alive today). When Sabrosky did his key to the Cuterebra in 1986 he only found two specimens of this fly (both female) in collections. The male is still undescribed. Both museum specimens were collected in New Mexico, and both adults from Sept/Oct... as is yours!! A fabulous bot! One of the known specimens was pulled from Lepus californicus texianus in New Mexico in Feb and the bot emerged Oct 12, 1959. Very little known about this fly. An amazing find!

… George "Jeff" Boettner, 17 April, 2009 - 5:19pm

Moved

Moved from Bot Flies.

… john and jane balaban, 23 October, 2006 - 4:41pm

very nice

it seems like you have a Botfly. Their larvae are parasitic on other live animals, where they live under their skin and eat their flesh

… Omar Fahmy, 19 September, 2006 - 1:26pm

Yes, excellent find!

This is a fly in the genus Cuterebra, the "rodent bots." Adults like this are very seldom encountered, and live but a short time. They do not feed, and in fact have no mouthparts! Their swift flight is fueled by burning fat accumulated in the larval stage.

… Eric R. Eaton, 19 September, 2006 - 1:35pm