Animal of the Month (or whenever I feel like it)
I hate flies. I really, really, really hate those little monstrosities. It's weird-- I have absolutely no fear of spiders, snakes, even jellyfish (I swam through a colony of moon jellies once. Their tentacles are too small to sting, but the feeling is really creepy-- like being licked by a giant tongue made out of a bag of pudding). But something about the Order Diptera just gives me the willies. I think it has something to do with those big-ass, nasty horseflies that are the size of your thumb. The ones that always get trapped in between your window and the outside screeen in a place where you can't see so you end up spending four hours on edge because you can't find the source of the angry chainsaw-like buzzing, then when you finally open the window a monstrous hell-steed with inch long eyes and VERY visible piercing mouthparts comes flying into the soft flesh of your face.
Brrr.
Anyhoo. Like Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, I'm going to face my fears and stick my hand into the black box while the creepy, bald chick mind-controls me into thinking my fingers are being burned off.
Here goes:
"Greenhead" horsefly
Tabanus quinquevittatus
Order: Diptera
Distribution: most of the United States.
Like most blood-feeding Dipterans (which includes mosquitos), only the female horsefly sucks blood. The male usually feeds on plant juices. The fly's mandibles work like scisssors to slice open flesh, while the maxillae pierce arteries and rupture them. The fly feeds by telmophagy-- sucking blood out of a pool that forms on the wound. Females require a meal of blood in order to reproduce, much like business majors. They lay their eggs in water. The resulting larvae have massive jaws that can deliver a painful bite.
If the head is severed from a horsefly BOTH halves can live for several hours. The head can still bite and the body can even get airborne for a few seconds-- though it has no nerve center to coordinate its movements and usually just ends up spinning in a circle. I know this from horrible personal experience.
So, I know I won't be sleeping tonight-- how about you?
Later Skater.
Brrr.
Anyhoo. Like Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, I'm going to face my fears and stick my hand into the black box while the creepy, bald chick mind-controls me into thinking my fingers are being burned off.
Here goes:
"Greenhead" horsefly
Tabanus quinquevittatus
Order: Diptera
Distribution: most of the United States.
Like most blood-feeding Dipterans (which includes mosquitos), only the female horsefly sucks blood. The male usually feeds on plant juices. The fly's mandibles work like scisssors to slice open flesh, while the maxillae pierce arteries and rupture them. The fly feeds by telmophagy-- sucking blood out of a pool that forms on the wound. Females require a meal of blood in order to reproduce, much like business majors. They lay their eggs in water. The resulting larvae have massive jaws that can deliver a painful bite.
If the head is severed from a horsefly BOTH halves can live for several hours. The head can still bite and the body can even get airborne for a few seconds-- though it has no nerve center to coordinate its movements and usually just ends up spinning in a circle. I know this from horrible personal experience.
So, I know I won't be sleeping tonight-- how about you?
Later Skater.