Human Botfly

Wow...this is certainly terrifying! Interesting...but terrifying! We get several different kinds of botflies in Colorado, US. The group of women I work with are a pretty tough group, not much grosses us out. Botfly larvae are the one thing that can have us all acting like girls! Yikes! Great information from everyone below! I will be sharing this with my coworkers! :D

Brave and well documented Leonardo!

An experience I prefer not to ever have but an amazing spotting!

Leonardo, you are my hero !I have a slightly unhealthy fascination of parasites :)), and this is the most interesting spotting I have seen in a long time! A huge thanks for sharing this :)

No jqkluft, unfortunately I don't have any on me. Have to go to the jungle areas near Palenque and the Lacandon. The Cattle bot (or Cattle Grub) is a different species that doesn't get into people. I grew up on a Cattle Ranch in California and we had lots of those in the livestock.

Bummer, LeonardoMB, that you lost it. LaurenZarate, thanks for the reminder. I have actually heard that it is best to wait it out and just let the larvae leave when they're ready. However, I imagine most people would freak out watching the fly larvae move and breathe. My friend had them in a wound and described a very similar scenario. Do you have some on you now? In the U.S., I think it is more likely to collect them off livestock.

This is a very creepy but fascinating and interesting spotting! So glad you got it out and hope no others got under your skin! Great presence of mind to photograph it for Noah. Hope you stay healthy!

It is wonderfully adapted for living in skin! The small instars (like the one pictured here) are this odd shape, the mature larva is fat and oval. All have spines that face backwards (the black things in the picture) so when the larva is in position upside-down in the skin it is almost impossible to pull them out. They must breathe oxygen, so they have a spiracle on the long tail end (also visible in the picture) which protrudes slightly from the center hole (visible in the picture of the wound). If you watch, the larva will move up and down slightly and you can see the tip of the spiracle going in and out, along with a lot of goo. They need to keep the hole open. They also produce an antibiotic so that the wound doesn't get infected throughout the weeks of their development. It is usually not recommended to try to squeeze them out because they hold on so tightly that you often end up breaking the larva, leaving some inside and that can definitely get infected. Leo was lucky to get the larva out in one piece. I have heard that taping a 1 cm thick piece of raw meat over the hole and leaving it there for a couple of days will cause the larva to move up into the meat (trying to reach oxygen again) and can then be lifted off inside the meat. I am waiting to get a bot fly so I can try this!

Yikes! I actually love how adapted it is for living subcutaneously. Not sure I'd want to squeeze it out of my arm though. Hope it didn't hurt. Is it still alive? Will you watch it morph?

Congrats! This spotting is a featured Project Noah Interesting Fact: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153686967335603&set=a.10150595289465603.674700.10150120463815603&type=1&theater

EEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! Burn it, BURN IT!!!!!

great link, Lauren.

Good link for this species: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/flies/human_bot_fly.htm

Superb spotting. Never heard of it before and very glad it's on the other side of the planet. Good science Leonardo - thanks.

Oh my goodness! Good job you noticed it : (

Oh very neat! This is a young instar still. I had a friend who had one in his back and he withstood the whole development process in order to get the mature fly to drop out and pupate. Did you know you got this larva from a mosquito? The female fly catches a female mosquito on the wing, deposits one or more eggs on it and the mosquito then delivers the parasite to humans or whatever else they happen to feed on. Incredible life history!

Omg Scary ! Hope you are all right !

Botfly larva. Not very comfortable and if you feel sick or the wound is infected, I would go to a physician. You may google for botfly larva, but be careful, there are some nasty pictures and videos around. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botfly http://www.vexman.com/stories2.htm