One thought on “A Flower and a Fly – Photograph by Laura Lecce”
Today I present to you this fly……on a flower. This fly is called a green bottle fly because of the shiny metallic green color of its body. Flies such as these have very important uses in both forensic science and medicine. They are often the first flies to arrive at a human or animal carcass, and this is where they can begin their lifecycle – A female will lay about 200 eggs which hatch and become larvae in 1-3 days, fully developed larvae in 3-10 days, and pupal development takes 6-14 days after which an adult fly emerges. Forensic investigators can use this knowledge to approximate the length of time a deceased has been dead.
These flies (or more correctly, the maggots) are used by doctors to treat wounds which are unresponsive to conventional treatments. They eat away the dead tissue and bacteria, and also secrete antimicrobial enzymes which together prevents infection and allows healthy tissue to grow successfully. Given the increasing resistance of bacteria to known antibiotics, this may just become the medicine of the future. Sorry to give such a literal example of making your skin crawl….
Laura Lecce's art and photography 
Today I present to you this fly……on a flower. This fly is called a green bottle fly because of the shiny metallic green color of its body. Flies such as these have very important uses in both forensic science and medicine. They are often the first flies to arrive at a human or animal carcass, and this is where they can begin their lifecycle – A female will lay about 200 eggs which hatch and become larvae in 1-3 days, fully developed larvae in 3-10 days, and pupal development takes 6-14 days after which an adult fly emerges. Forensic investigators can use this knowledge to approximate the length of time a deceased has been dead.
These flies (or more correctly, the maggots) are used by doctors to treat wounds which are unresponsive to conventional treatments. They eat away the dead tissue and bacteria, and also secrete antimicrobial enzymes which together prevents infection and allows healthy tissue to grow successfully. Given the increasing resistance of bacteria to known antibiotics, this may just become the medicine of the future. Sorry to give such a literal example of making your skin crawl….
LikeLike