Bee or Fly or ?? - Cuterebra fontinella

Cuterebra fontinella fontinella

Hi Beatrice,
Nice shots. This is a botfly, Cuterebra fontinella fontinella, a parasite of white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). A little hard to see the head (if I saw it top down I could sex it) but looks like it is likely a female. Was likely getting ready to lay eggs in mouse runways. These bots do not have mouth parts, so they can't feed or bite, although they will mimic a bee by buzzing loudly when held- but can't hurt you. This is the most common bot in N. America, although few people ever see them, partly because they only live about a week to 10 days in the wild, because they can't feed. Their adult life is all about finding a mate and laying as many eggs as possible (in the thousands). They key marks on this species is the dark back (behind the head) combined with the white rump (last segment on the hind end). There is also another subspecies (Cuterebra fontinella grisea) in your area, which uses deer mice (Peroymscus leucopus) as a host.
Always enjoy these flies on BugGuide. They have a cute face when photographed head on. If you have a pic of the face or looking down from above, I could likely sex it better.

… George "Jeff" Boettner, 7 August, 2012 - 10:06am

Thank you!

Hi Jeff,
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain the details about this botfly! Very interesting, especially because I never knew such a creature existed before photographing it and sending it in to Bugguide.net. Isn't nature fasinating? The more you look, the more you see and the more you learn.
Bea

… Beatrice Laporte, 24 October, 2012 - 8:23am

Thanks!

Hi Beatrice,
Thanks for the kind words. Really one of my favorite critters.
Parasites are not well studied. Which is wild, because nearly every species on earth (including many of the parasites themselves) have at least 2 species of parasites that use them as hosts. So that means it is likely that 2/3rds of biodiversity on earth is made up of the parasites--and I am not including lawyers ;) There is an old quote attributed to J. B. S. Haldane that when asked what he learned from studying bugs and religion, he replied that God must have had "an inordinate fondness for beetles." If he were alive today he might say the same thing about parasites.
Jeff

… George "Jeff" Boettner, 24 October, 2012 - 8:46am

Moved

Moved from Rodent and Lagomorph Bot Flies.

… v belov, 7 August, 2012 - 8:48am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… metrioptera, 16 July, 2012 - 11:07am