Image: Female Green Hairy Maggot Blowfly
Description
A female Green Hairy Maggot Blowfly Chrysomya rufifacies, ready to lay eggs.
- Photographer:
- R. Major
- Rights:
- © Australian Museum
Additional information
Chrysomia rufifacies is a large, metallic green blowfly whose larvae are predaceous, feeding on the larvae of earlier-arriving flies. Adult females do not lay their eggs in a corpse until the body is partially decomposed and maggots are available as prey. The larvae of Chrysomia rufifacies have tough spiny skin, which gives them protection against other predators. The larvae pupate on the surface, rather than burrowing into the soil, and they are particularly vulnerable to parasitism by wasps.
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