This close relative of the House Fly is sometimes called the biting house fly (top image). The proboscis is a disproportionally elongated rigid tube (middle image). At the tip it has modified its fleshy labella into a densely horny ball accommodating 2 sets of 5 well developed prestomal teeth (bottom image). These are the main implements used for cutting into mammalian skin/flesh.
Both males and females are vicious blood suckers.
Top: 105 mm Micro Nikkor, f/8 0.2 & 0.4 mm 30 frames, ZS PMax
Middle: anterior view, 4x Nikon CF N Plan, 12 frames, 50µ; ZS PMax
Bottom: flattened tip, 10x SPlan Apo + 2.5x relay lens, 15 frames @ 4µ; ZS PMax
NU12036
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
