Mangoworms have tiny hands!
Have you been on my Youtube account? If you have you were probably disgusted and thought I was a weirdo. It’s easier to show you. Amongst LaToya Forever, ErinsAnimals, Vet Ranch, TheSorryGirls etc is VetClinicGambia and Cordylobia Anthropophaga two channels managed by Dr Florian (previously Dr Michael Meyer)
. 
The videos here range from CTVT to mangoworms to ticks and more. For a veterinary clinic with a TNR programme, you wouldn’t really expect all that with a cherry on top of very abused animals. The videos that I get engrossed by are the mangoworms videos. They are disgusting yet extremely satisfying when procrastinating. However. until today, I had not thought of what exactly mango worms are.
Mangoworms are the larvae of Cordylobia Anthropophaga- a parasitic fly also known as a mango fly or African tumbu fly. Their scientific name is derived from the Greek word ‘anthropophagos’ meaning ‘human eater’-this is very fitting when you get to know more about these flies.These large, brownish-yellow fly with black abdominal spots and brown wings are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa.
Female mango flies lay up to 300 eggs on moist smelly areas such as wet clothes on a washing line, dirty dog blankets or in the holes dug by dogs. Here they will hatch after 2-4 days and the larvae can wait up to 20 days for a host to stupidly wear their air-dried cashmere sweater or snuggle in their dog bed where contact occurs and ‘drilling’ into the subdermal layer occurs. This can happens through unbroken skin! The larvae require a mammal host as a source of food and for growth. This is where innocent dogs fall in the picture as the main hosts and humans end up being accidental hosts.
The larvae take less than 25 seconds to implant themselves head first into the skin where they incubate within the host. But what blows my mind here is how does the L1 larvae attaches and inserts into the skin. I know you are amazed at their skill and I have found the answers for you. Mandibular hooks! The larvae have little hands!!
During incubation, they grow from L1 to L3 larvae secreting liquid which has anti-bacterial properties. Interestingly they also breath and defecate (respiratory spiracle and anus at the posterior part of the larvae) which is somewhat how they are detected- a black dot in the middle of the bright red puss and blood filled painful bump on the skin. If not removed from the skin, the larvae will exit through their breathing hole (respiratory spiracle) after about 2 weeks. Fully matured in the real world they pupate into adult flies. This whole process might not be the end of the world, but it does cause a lot of pain and can lead to secondary infections.
I am going to dare you to watch this if you think you can survive a mango worm video. If you pass we can be friends !
One of the most annoying thing with Youtube is how my search for weird mango fly videos ends up leading to botflies. Let’s not get these two mixed up. Although they both cause Furuncular myiasis, they are different species. More importantly, they work in different ways. Botflies lay their eggs on mosquitos who then transfer the eggs to the hosts whilst mango flies lay their eggs on moist dirty soil or clothes no mosquito needed!
Read more:
Comments
Post a Comment