100 Species #41: Green bottle fly

[urbpan]

A green bottle fly (I have no idea what the scientific name of this one is--the last time I posted a picture of one it was identified as Lucilia sericata by Badnoodles--quite possibly the same species, not impossibly another) itself on a rock in our side yard perennial garden.

This fly probably came to my yard to see what the dogs left behind. These insects, along with their relatives the house flies, and the more distant cousins the vinegar (or "fruit") flies are lumped together by pest professionals as "filth flies." In nature they are the clean up crew, attracted to the odors of decomposition and fermentation, obligingly mopping up the mess, albeit with extremely small mop-like mouthparts. Bottle flies lay their eggs on dead animals, and their babies make the carcasses go away. A properly trained pest control professional will tell you the way to control flies is to limit how much you feed them.

A green bottle fly posed as 365 Urban Species #132.

Comments

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

Looks like sericata. Could be one of the others, but sericata is as common as dirt in urban areas.