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Bug of the Week: Green Bottle Fly

Talk about the beauty and the beast…

This shiny green fly feeds on nectar from flowers.

The adult green bottle flies are actually visually interesting, perhaps even (dare I say it) attractive?

No one would ever call green bottle fly offspring, the fly larvae or maggots, even remotely attractive. They serve an important function, however, because they clean up dead animals and excrement. Think about what the earth might be like if decomposers and scavengers like green bottle flies weren’t around. Yuck!

If you have a really strong stomach, I mean really really strong, you can go see maggots at work. Warning:  not for the squeamish!

This group of flies are commonly called blow flies. They belong to the family Calliphoridae.

Have you seen any flies out yet where you live?

Seed of the Week: Spiny Sowthistle

Our mystery seeds from last week were from the spiny sowthistle, Sonchus asper.

The seeds come from these fluffy clusters that may resemble dandelion seed heads.

The yellow clusters of ray flowers also look quite a bit like dandelion flowers.

Sowthistles are much more upright than dandelions, however, because they have a distinct stem.

The leaves of the spiny sowthistle have “prickles” and the leaves of sowthistles wrap around the stem at the bases.

Sow thistles do what weeds do best.

They can make and spread a lot of seeds in a short period of time.

Do sowthistles grow where you live?

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