Green bottle fly taking flower nectar.

The green bottle fly, a close relative of the blue bottle fly, is commonly found throughout the world. These familiar insects are often mistaken for houseflies because of their appearance and pervasive nature. They do, however, belong to a different family of flies; the blowflies. Blowfly adults will take nourishment from any moist surface that contains sustenance. In the above photo, a green bottle fly is taking nectar from a flowering plant. The larvae of flies, called maggots, are an different entirely thing, and blowfly larvae are very particular in their diets.

Blowfly maggots eat only decaying flesh. This sounds hideous to most of us but in fact, it represents an essential niche in the ecology of our planet. Dead things must decay and these insects play an important role in distributing nutrients throughout the environment. Let's say a small mammal such as a squirrel dies. It is soon discovered by a variety of insects that go to work on taking advantage of the find. Eggs are laid in and on the corpse and when the young emerge begin to feed on the ample remains. Some things feed on the maggots themselves, but it is when the larvae become mature that something amazing happens. All that energy and nutrients derived from the dead squirrel is dispersed throughout the environment. Instead of it staying in one place it becomes mobile. Reptiles, birds, amphibians, and other insects share in the bounty as the flies leave the area. That energy and nutrients consumed by these secondary consumers get passed onto higher-order predators. It's the circle of life, which ironically started with death.

That's not the only remarkable thing about green bottle flies. In 2004 the United States FDA (food and drug administration) approved the green bottle fly to be used in medical maggot therapy. You heard right. Since these blowflies eat only decaying tissue and leave healthy tissue alone their existence has been adapted to feed on dead and dying tissue associated with injuries in humans. This helps to debrine (clean and remove) necrotic tissue which then allows healthy cells to populate the damaged area. There is a remarkable history of the whole process which has been going on since the early 1900s. For more information, click here.

I thought you would find this interesting. Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen