The Blowflies (genus Calliphora) are one of the larger kinds of flies. Like the smaller Housefly (Musca domestica) the Blowfly can be found indoors.

The Blowfly prefers to lay it's eggs in dead animals. The eggs develop into maggots that eat the meat.

Flies belong to the order Diptera ('two winged'). This group contains the animals that are the most dangerous to humans. Not sharks or snakes are the most threatening to our lives. Mostly in the tropics Flies and their relatives the Mosquito's bring diseases that annually cost millions of human lives . The Tsetse fly bears deadly protozoa that can cause the African Sleeping sickness. When the fly sucks blood from a human the protozoa are injected in the persons bloodstream. Typhoid bacteria may be carried by the house fly and the other lethal diseases Malaria (by a protozoan) and Dengue fever (by a virus) are carried by mosquito's.

Flies have become very important subjects in scientific research. Fruitflies (Drosophila melanochaster) are essential for the study of genetics. The links page will show you some examples.