Blue Bottle Fly

About the Blue Bottle Fly

Among the first insects to arrive at a dead body - forensic entomologists use their life cycle to estimate time of death with remarkable accuracy. They can detect the smell of death from 16 km away. They beat their wings 200 times per second. Their larvae (maggots) are used in maggot therapy - they clean wounds by eating dead tissue while secreting antimicrobial compounds. They are being studied for their ability to detect chemical signatures of decomposition. Over 1,000 species in the family.