Some of us have vivid memories of screwworm larvae burrowed into the flesh of livestock. A full-grown screwworm looks like any other fly. It is an insect small in size, dark, six-legged and compound-eyed. Its life cycle is quite different than other flies, however. A pregnant screwworm seeks out the bodies of much larger animals. Upon finding an open wound or other fleshy crevasse, delivers her eggs. When they hatch, the screwworm maggots earn their name, carving corkscrew burrows into the skin to grow fat off their host.
Source: Washington Post, October 4, 2016.
It is the first time in three decades the screwworm has infested a group of animals in the United States, and the first time in 50 years the insect appeared in Florida. ‘This foreign animal disease poses a grave threat to wildlife, livestock and domestic pets in Florida,’ Putnam said. ‘Though rare, it can even infect humans.’
INSIGHTS: Also see: Fly sex and a golden goose, Animal Health Digest, June 23, 2016.