Posted by LordV on 11-01-2009 15:18
#1
Sorry just to post links but they are not my shots- can anyone say what is going on at the rear end of this fly?
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1012063&postcount=6
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1012064&postcount=7
Brian V.
Posted by Tony Irwin on 11-01-2009 18:31
#2
This is larvivipary - Ozzie style.
Normally when a fly retains her eggs and gives "birth" to live maggots, they are first or at most second instar. In this case it looks like the maggot has been growing for some time. (A great advantageous in a country where carrion can dry up quickly.) This is carried to extremes in families like Hippoboscidae and Glossiniidae where adult flies produce fully fed maggots that immediately pupariate, but it's interesting to see it "evolving" here. In not sure what the species is - don't know the Australian greenbottles very well.