Fly questions

[bugmankeith]

Got some fly questions for you.

1. In my area both blue bottle and green bottle flies are native, both seen frequently, and both are bot flies. Can they hybridize and would they do it in nature? If they do what do you think their color would be, they are nice looking flies like the colorful dung beetles you see.

2. In spring when its kind of cold but warm enough that insects are out, and lets says it rains straight for 3 days, how do flies survive without eating since they cant fly when its wet out.
I raised flies as feeders and if they dont eat within 24 hours most of them drop dead, so this puzzles me.

 

[Widowman10]

don't know for sure, but i'll take a stab.

Got some fly questions for you.

1. In my area both blue bottle and green bottle flies are native, both seen frequently, and both are bot flies. Can they hybridize and would they do it in nature? If they do what do you think their color would be, they are nice looking flies like the colorful dung beetles you see.

in my area, it's the same deal. both blue bottles and green bottles are native.

that being said, just from my observation, they are two very different looking flies. it is easy to tell a green bottle from a blue.

and to clarify, i believe they are "blow flies," not "bot flies."

also, they each belong to a different genus, which would lead me to believe they cannot hybridize

2. In spring when its kind of cold but warm enough that insects are out, and lets says it rains straight for 3 days, how do flies survive without eating since they cant fly when its wet out.
I raised flies as feeders and if they dont eat within 24 hours most of them drop dead, so this puzzles me.

not of this i'm not certain. someone will probably come around and give a great answer. but i'll try. maybe when the heavy steady rains come, they slow their metabolic rate (much like what happens with cooler temperatures). as with almost all inverts, feeding slows down when temps are cooler.

or maybe they just find someplace out of the rain... haha

 

[ZephAmp]

I've seen greenbottle flies on flowers. Maybe they hang out on the flowers and drink nectar until they can find rotting stuff.

 

[ZergFront]

Maybe they slow down enough not to need a lot of food when it's cold and wet outside.

I once opened my refridgerator and saw a green bottle sitting at the top(don't know how long it was trapped in there). I touched it and the fly fell to the ground, dead - so I thought.

In about 5-6 minutes, it was moving around on the floor and later disappeared. Presumably flew away after warming up.

 

[Malhavoc's]

I read somwhere flys winter by cramming into small crevices in large groups and winteringhibernating, they probably do the same in poor weather in warm rain, food is abundant in said cracks, mold rotting wood debri etc