Image: An Australian Cheese Fly

An Australian Cheese Fly

An Australian Cheese Fly Piophila australis - Cheese flies - Family Piophilidae

Photographer:
G. Gowing
Rights:
© Australian Museum

Additional information

Cheese flies - Family Piophilidae

Cheese flies are attracted to the cheesy odour which emanates from a corpse during the later stages of decomposition, particularly when the body is undergoing butyric fermentation. They are also common pests of cheeses and hams.

The Cheese Skipper, Piophila casei, has a worldwide distribution and is named after the behaviour of its maggots. When disturbed the larvae flex and release their bodies, skipping up to 15 cm into the air.

Although arriving after the bulk of the body has been consumed by the pioneer flies, cheese flies can occur in large numbers - 4,363 flies emerged from pupae derived from a single sheep's head.

Cheese Skippers have been found in coffins buried up to 3 m deep and in corpses up to 10 years old.

 

Last Updated:

Tags death, decomposition, flies, fly, insects, insect, diptera,

1 comment

jason_b100 - 10.02 AM, 10 February 2010
Just great more things that smell like cheese, what sort of cheese smell is it, fresh chedder or the goat milk cheese. Do they really knowyourcheese, because just went i blogged about my delight of various cheeses I found out about the cheesefly from www.knowyourcheese.info and i gotta say, flies are getting worse and worse, but cheese is getting better.

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