Moose Botfly
Cephenemyia ulrichii
55.6265, 12.1857
Field Notes
Description:
Cephenemyia ulrichii or the moose botfly, sometimes also called an elk botfly or moose nose botfly or moose throat botfly, is a large botfly that resembles a bumblebee. In the wild, they attack chiefly the nostrils and pharyngeal cavity of moose (known as elk in Europe), but have been found in deer. There have also been several cases of C. ulrichii squirting their larvae into the eyes of human beings, a painful event that requires medical attention to forestall serious damage.
Habitat:
C. ulrichii are common parasites of moose in northeastern parts of Scandinavia, but have recently expanded their range into southern Sweden. They have also been reported in Denmark, northeast Norway, and the Baltic states.
Although once thought to be very species specific to Alces alces (Moose), they have recently been found in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) near Helsinki. And I guess my spotting would be another case which proves that they parasite also on roe deer in Denmark since the spot I found it is a place always with a few of roe deers.
Notes:
In Scandinavia, the only species present are ‘‘C. trompe’‘ and ‘‘C. ulrichii in this case C. trompe would fit better the habitat it's found since in Denmark we have no Moose and the place found we have only roe deer.
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