Moved from Rodent and Lagomorph Bot Flies.

Not sure how I missed this post. Could kick myself! This one is a really interesting find. You are correct that the red eye spots place this clearly within the Cuterebra buccata group (of which there are 9 species and all use rabbits as the main host). Within the buccata group, there are three subgroups, (princeps, buccata, and lepivora subgroups). Yours falls pretty clearly in the buccata subgroup with the circular spots (polka dots) on the hind end in combination with black legs ...so far, so good.
But there are only 3 species in the buccata subgroup, C. buccata, C. leupusculi, and C. cochisei. We can rule out C. leupusculi quickly because it has a distinct white U shaped ring around the back above the wings- see posts on BugGuide. C. buccata would be my first guess, as this ia a common rabbit bot, however, this is mostly an eastern species, and few western, and NO California records are known. Also the back on yours is just too uniform black -if you look at other C. buccata records on BugGuide (note soft white look to back, not jet black on back), and the small white tuft (supra-alar tuft) above the base of the wing on yours should be much more pronounced. So that leaves me with C. cochisei, which does have a black back, and which when I look at the face profile of yours is more flattened than buccata. But the problem is that C. cochisei is only known from 2 specimens (in the world), 1 male, 1 female both from AZ, and I have not personally seen either specimen, nor seen a picture of it!!! And Curtis Sabrosky, the person that described this as a new species in 1986 had only seen 2 dead specimens but predicted live adults would likey have red eyes similar to buccata. So this sure fits with Sabrosky's description and is a fabulous find if so. Next winter I will try to get to the 2 museums to see Sabrosky's type specimens.
By any chance did you keep this specimen??? It should go in the Smithsonian Museum if you still have it. Otherwise, yes, post more pics if you have it of any views, sides, top, face, and/or rear. All would be helpful in nailing this down for sure. Would love to know what rabbit species are in the area where you saw it? If you still have the specimen, contact me at boettner@psis.umass.edu. I would love to see this one and hear more about how/where you found it. I might be able to sex it from a front on face shot, or top down view of the head. Jeff Boettner

Moved from ID Request.

Very nice!