I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles

I believe this to be a Greenbottle blowfly, a member of the Calliphoridae family of the order Diptera and a Lucilia sp. I did not realise at the time of photographing that this female was blowing quite a clear bubble for me.  This appears to be quite a common activity in the insect world. So why do flies and some other insects blow bubbles? Well there appears to be several theories regarding this:

• It aids in digestion.
• It helps to clear the mouthparts.
• As a defensive mechanism.
• Elimination of excess water through evaporation.
• Thermoregulatory

There are other theories, but I don’t think anybody really knows for sure. It’s not like you can ask them, “Hey, what you doin’ that for?'” is it?

Some bubbles are clear and some are opaque. Males do it as well as females. The bubbles are always redigested, never disgarded, unless sprayed in defense, although I have never seen this. Not that I avidly wait around and stalk flies waiting for them to blow bubbles.

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Rear garden, Staffordshire, England. June 2017.