Cuterebra fontinella
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Cuterebra fontinella, the mouse bot fly, is a species of New World skin bot fly in the family Oestridae. C. fontinella is typically around 1 cm (0.39 in) in length with a black and yellow color pattern. C. fontinella develops by parasitizing nutrients from its host, typically the white-footed mouse. C. fontinella has even been known to parasitize humans in rare cases. Individuals parasitized by C. fontinella will develop a large bump on the skin that is indicative of parasitization.
The genus name Cuterebra is a blend of the Latin words cutis : skin and terebra : borer with apparent shortening of expected Cutiterebra to Cuterebra. C. fontinella is found all around North America, including in most of the continental United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. The prevalence of C. fontinella is dependent upon temperature. Colder regions will not be as densely populated as the warmer ones.
C. fontinella inhabits deciduous forests of North America. C. fontinella prefer territories near running water and with low-elevation vegetation. These flies are found in the highest density near the edges of their habitats. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mouse Bot Fly sighting in Toronto on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 945th most-seen of the 1689 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mouse Bot Fly in Toronto on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mouse Bot Fly sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Toronto, in our data
Toronto is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Mouse Bot Fly sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mouse Bot Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Toronto (13 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
