# attack of the bot fly!



## kiffnie (Aug 3, 2006)

Just had to share these pics with you folks on arachnoboards and this was the only forum that it kinda fits in.  After several weeks of trying to convince local doctors in the midwest that I had flies growing in my head, I found a dermatologist that would take me seriously.  He took out three yesterday that were 2nd instar and about a centimeter long.  So remember, when collecting in the tropics, wear a hat!


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## Gigas (Aug 3, 2006)

they will also rub into you skin after flies lay them on clothes hanging to dry. most unfortunate, welll atleast its out now


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## Texas Blonde (Aug 3, 2006)

Wow, thats sooo cool!  Did they let you keep them? Thanks for sharing!


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## kiffnie (Aug 3, 2006)

yes they let me keep them, if they wouldn't have I would have had to let them go to maturity or else find another doctor cause I wanted them bad!


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## crashergs (Aug 3, 2006)

most incredible!! how did u know that you had larvae growing in your scalp???


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## bugmankeith (Aug 3, 2006)

I thought you can just squeeze them out like you do a pimple?


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## lucanidae (Aug 3, 2006)

> they will also rub into you skin after flies lay them on clothes hanging to dry.


I thought bot flies were vectored by mosquitoes.  I'm pretty sure the human bot flies are.  Female bot flies lay the eggs on mosquitoes, then when one bites you the bot maggot crawls onto you and burrows in.


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## Natco (Aug 3, 2006)

Sorry that happened to you!:8o   I have also heard that they lay eggs on clothing from a friend who does work in Africa.


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## KennyGee (Aug 3, 2006)

> I thought you can just squeeze them out like you do a pimple?


 U see those 3 dotted rings, those are spikes and even if u do i bet the pain would be unbearable.  



> most incredible!! how did u know that you had larvae growing in your scalp???


      you can feel them squirming around ewwwww


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## lucanidae (Aug 3, 2006)

> The botfly egg is deposited by a mosquito or sometimes by another insect.


http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/botfly.html



> An egg-laden female botfly captures a night-flying female mosquito and glues her eggs on to it. When the mosquito is released and bites a victim, the host's body heat triggers an egg to hatch. It falls off and burrows in. The larva secures itself with two anal hooks, secreting an antibiotic into its burrow, which staves off competing bacteria and fungi.


http://www.vexman.com/botfly.htm



> The Human Botfly attacks insects that feed on blood. They then glue their egg on the insect's leg so that it may infect unsuspecting prey. The egg drops off the insect when feeding. The egg hatches and invades the skin.


http://botfly.quiik.com/about.html#Human

The laying eggs on drying clothing is as big of a myth as the screaming solfugid that runs 80 mph....


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## Gigas (Aug 3, 2006)

lucanidae said:
			
		

> The laying eggs on drying clothing is as big of a myth as the screaming solfugid that runs 80 mph....


I know of 3 people who have had bot fly on their upper arm, an one on his shoulder blade, no they dont run around topless


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## lucanidae (Aug 3, 2006)

Most of the people who go on trips to Costa Rica and come back with bot flies get them on their arms too.  If a maggot can burrow through flesh I'm sure it can burrow/squeeze through some fabric.  

Female human bots lay eggs on other insects....why would they risk laying eggs on clothing? They evolved long before clothing.  And even if it 'smelled' like human I'm sure tactilly it's completely different. Also, the egg would be on the outside of the clothing and then have to burrow through anyways.  

Do these people always sleep with full sleeve shirts on?


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## Gigas (Aug 3, 2006)

Well im talkin about the african sp, they are adapted to laying eggs on wet warm things that they can snuggle into (like human hair) , this behaviour stems from laying eggs on animals at "the watering hole" because otherwise hides of most african mammals hides are dry and thick, after they been frollicking in the water the lay the eggs on the softer hide.


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## Hedorah99 (Aug 3, 2006)

I have heard of people getting one, but three is gross. Is there any truth to using a piece of steak to lure them out and did you try that? And where were you, South America?


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## lucanidae (Aug 3, 2006)

Cordylobia rodhaini the Lund Fly and others in it's genus are the only flies I am aware of living in Africa with any sort of bot fly like behaviors.  These flies lay eggs on clothing and maggots burrow into the skin.  But these flies are not normally human parasites, and are not the human bot fly pictured above.


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## Gigas (Aug 3, 2006)

once again i have rambled on about something that doesnt even relate to the same continent as the topic, they are commonly called bot flies.
They are far too common in areas where people cannot iron their clothes, you call it the "human bot fly" Does this species purposely seek out human?


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## lucanidae (Aug 3, 2006)

Yes, botflies are family Cuterebridae, but Dermatobia hominis specifically targets humans, whereas other bots target deer, rabbits, and other specific host animals/body parts.  Roadkill rabbits almost always have bots under their chins where roadkill deer almost always have them up the nose.  The bots are laid before the animal is killed, and you have to search the roadkill before it dries up......


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## Gigas (Aug 3, 2006)

wow, they must be unpopular
rabbit and deer bot flies, are they an american** sp.


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## lucanidae (Aug 3, 2006)

Not sure if they are only native to the U.S. or not....I would suspect they are a worldwide family and so members of the family in all continents most likely prey on the common mammal species.


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## cacoseraph (Aug 3, 2006)

speaking of botflies and myths, i have a couple old "weird fact books" that say the deer botfly is the fastest flying insect in the world... ok, that i can deal with... but they all say the dang things can make 818mph! that is above the speed of sound at pretty much all altitudes iirc. i would love to see a bug induced sonic boom. er, hear it =P

ah, interesting story behind that http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/gmis9911.htm

and to the OP... you are freakin hardcore


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## lucanidae (Aug 3, 2006)

Yup, read an article on that.... its phony (bad science), that insect maxes at 25 mph...still fast!


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## BurrowDweller (Aug 3, 2006)

Very interesting pictures! I have heard a few stories from people who have had bots, but had never actually seen one (at least on a human). 

I have a degree in wildlife biology and have seen plenty of bots on hunter killed rabbits. In most areas of the US they are called warbles or wolves and are quite common in the eastern US. Have seen a few nasal bots in deer, kinda gross, but cool too.


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## Randolph XX() (Aug 3, 2006)

OMG!
i am wondering where exactly in tropic u have been for collecting?


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## zinto (Aug 4, 2006)

http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/botfly2.html


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## kiffnie (Aug 4, 2006)

Glad you guys enjoyed the pics.  I was in Belize for 10 days.  Probably would not have picked them up just hanging on the beach but I did spend a few days hiking around in the jungle.  How did I know they were there?  As someone mentioned the rings on their bodies are little hooks that anchor them in.  When they move around, it hurts!  How did they get them out?  They enlarged the breathing hole with a small incision (under a local) and pushed them out.  Pulling them out can break them in two and cause in infection.  All is well now and I feel much better!


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## Loaf (Aug 4, 2006)

*Bot Flies*

I saw a special on Bot flies on the discovery channel, someone had a Bot Fly lay eggs in her eye, at least you didnt get them in your eye.  Where were you when you got them? I never got them that I knew of when I went to Costa Rica.  HHMMMM do you still have them? ;P


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## jwasted (Aug 4, 2006)

wow those pics are neat. Glad they got them out of you! Crazy stuff


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## strat321 (Aug 4, 2006)

*bot fly!!*

great pics.  Will use them in my lecture on symbioses (with your permission)

takes me back to early 80's when I was in the peace corps in belize.

3 weeks in country and had a growth/ pimple/ swelling that would not heal.  after about 10 days I happen to show the PC nurse just as the breathing tube came out (the reason it does not heal).  went into her office, she gets a cotton swap and squeezes it out.  I could not eat rice for a week.  


now adays with grad & undergrads going to the tropics, they sometimes get botflies everywhere and I mean everywhere on their bodies.
we use nail polish to intoxicate the bugger and then gently squeeze the WHOLE larvae out.  problem with u.s. docs is they are not necessarily familiar with tropical medicine ( a field unto itself)

cheers!


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## kiffnie (Aug 4, 2006)

I spent a day hiking around in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Preserve.  That's where I think I picked them up.


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## bugmankeith (Aug 4, 2006)

I saw a show where a guy had a botfly in his stomach, it looked like a segment from alien!


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## David_F (Aug 4, 2006)

kiffnie said:
			
		

> yes they let me keep them, if they wouldn't have I would have had to let them go to maturity or else find another doctor cause I wanted them bad!


Please tell me you've got these at the Bug Zoo.  

Glad the doc got them out.


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## kiffnie (Aug 6, 2006)

Of course they are at the zoo.  We are going to make a big poster using some of the pics the doctor took and put them on display.  Stop and see them!


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## Newports (Aug 7, 2006)

Oh man, wasnt that painfull!!??

And wouldn't you need to do somthing to the hole since its so deep?


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## kellygirl (Aug 7, 2006)

kiffnie said:
			
		

> I was in Belize for 10 days.


I was in the Yucatan peninsula (Campeche, Yucatan & Quintana Roo) for several months this year, and seriously considered checking out Belize and Guatemala since I was so close.  I did some research and opted out of both...  I said no to Guatemala because of the recent frequent muggings of tourists by groups of masked men armed with machetes (really sounds made up, I know).  I said no to Belize because of the botsflies.  Seriously.  As much as I love many insect and arachnid critters, I might literally go crazy if I knew I had larvae under my skin.  I can hardly handle it when a regular old blemish pops up... so I would probably have clawed a hole in my head if I had been in your position.  And I'm not joking even a little bit.   :8o  I'm glad you were able to be so brave.

-Kelly


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## kiffnie (Aug 7, 2006)

Newports said:
			
		

> Oh man, wasnt that painfull!!??
> 
> And wouldn't you need to do somthing to the hole since its so deep?


It was only painful when they moved.  They have concentric rings of spines that anchor them into the tissue.  When they needed to find a juicy new patch of tissue to chow on, they would move and the spines would cause a stabbing pain that lasted a few minutes.  I have heard that it is not so painful to have them in other places like your arm or your calf where the tissue is deeper.

They decided to to leave the incisions open because they didn't want to trap any bacteria in the hole.  I am on oral antibiotics and the holes have shrunk down and scabbed over nicely.


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## Tleilaxu (Aug 7, 2006)

So are you going to breed them?


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## Newports (Aug 7, 2006)

kiffnie said:
			
		

> It was only painful when they moved.  They have concentric rings of spines that anchor them into the tissue.  When they needed to find a juicy new patch of tissue to chow on, they would move and the spines would cause a stabbing pain that lasted a few minutes.  I have heard that it is not so painful to have them in other places like your arm or your calf where the tissue is deeper.
> 
> They decided to to leave the incisions open because they didn't want to trap any bacteria in the hole.  I am on oral antibiotics and the holes have shrunk down and scabbed over nicely.


Ah I see, thanks.
Glad things worked out for you.


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