botfly

American  

[bot-flahy] / ˈbɒtˌflaɪ /

Or bot fly

noun

• botflies
  plural

1. any of several flies of the families Oestridae, Gasterophilidae, and Cuterebridae, the larvae of which are parasitic in the skin or other parts of various mammals.

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botfly British  

/ ˈbɒtˌflaɪ /

noun

1. any of various stout-bodied hairy dipterous flies of the families Oestridae and Gasterophilidae , the larvae of which are parasites of man, sheep, and horses

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• botflies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of botfly

First recorded in 1810–20; bot ² + fly ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

botfly botflies

There are about as many ways to get rid of botfly larvae as people you talk to.

From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2011

Gravid botfly females apparently catch mosquitos on the wing and then lay their eggs on the mosquito’s body.

From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2011

The Department of Agriculture's Entomologist Richard P. Higgins identified the doctor's find as larvae of the human botfly, known to scientists as Dermatobia hominis.

From Time Magazine Archive

Dr. Langmuir, having studied ballistics formulae, showed that if the botfly flew at 800 m.p.h. the wind pressure against its head would be 8 Ib. per sq. in., "probably enough to crush the fly."

From Time Magazine Archive

The new team which John had bought was hitched to the pole of the harvester, and as he drew them up, a botfly buzzed suddenly about the forelegs of the off-wheel horse.

From The Wind Before the Dawn by Dell H. Munger

And I was surprised by my reaction: the technology that produced it is amazing, and I’m the person who tries to one-up my editor with disgusting pictures of botflies in Slack.

From The Verge ● Aug. 14, 2018

It’s the botflies that probably get the biggest reaction from family members and new visitors, perhaps because of the truly bizarre nature of their life cycle.

From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2011

Someone told him that these were the famed deer botflies.

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1961, the incidence of parasitism by botflies was the highest for the period 1960-1966.

From Comparative Ecology of Pinyon Mice and Deer Mice in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado by Charles L. Douglas

The highest rate of infestation by botflies occurred in 1961, the year in which the population density of P. maniculatus was near its peak.

From Comparative Ecology of Pinyon Mice and Deer Mice in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado by Charles L. Douglas

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