Generally speaking, they disappear after the first frost. The flies are active during the warm months all across the country. They exist on stored energy until their demise. Basically, their mouthparts are very small and nonfunctional. However, they do not bite or sting and, during their brief life, the adult flies do not feed. haemorrhoidalis).Īs indicated, all three species are about the size of a bee. They are the common bot ( Gasterophilus intestinalis), the throat bot ( G. They tell us, first of all, that there are three species of bots that affect horses, mules, and donkeys. Some of the information that follows comes from extension specialists at North Dakota State University, the University of Missouri, and West Virginia University. We know a good deal about bots because research has unlocked most of their secrets, and agricultural extension agents stand ready to disseminate this information to the horse-owning public. Instead, it will be busy tossing its head or stomping its feet. This means that the fly will be buzzing persistently around the horse’s head and legs, often causing it to become so irritated that it has trouble focusing on the task at hand, such as being ridden or driven. Botflies generally lay only one egg at a time, but depending on the species, one female is capable of depositing 150 to 500 eggs.
When attacking equids, the botfly is a pest supreme.
They are specialists, in that they only attack horses, mules, and donkeys-perhaps zebras as well-and do not seek to use cattle or other livestock as hosts. Instead they are flies, and like other flies their life cycle involves four distinct stages-egg, larva, pupa, and adult fly.Īs is the case with other parasites, bots need a host to carry out their life cycle.
And although we will talk later about “deworming” as a weapon against these parasites, they are not really worms, such as ascarids and strongyles.
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