#calliphora

This is a fungus - Entomophthora sp. that attacks blue bottle flies. It's rather like the Gibellula fungus that preys on spiders.

Unlike spiders, flies are gregarious and the fungus could maximise its chances of infecting others by arranging for its host to die in a gathering spot. I found four of these within a meter of each other.

Previously I had only ever seen this fungus in close proximity with stink horns, leading me to google things like "do stink horns kill flies?" with no success.

A blowfly native to SE Australia, and accidentally introduced to New Zealand.

The fly has been reared from human corpses, mammalian carrion, dead crayfish and dead moths, and also causes sheep strike, but to a leser extent than other calliphorids. There's also a possible case from 1968 of human myiasis.

It’s 12AM and still uploading to iNat. Well, my internet is also very slow here but :>!

[MLP] Queens of the Hives by Loure201

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