Cheese fly
This article is about the fly species. For the family, see Piophilidae.
| Cheese fly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Piophila casei | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Piophilidae |
| Genus: | Piophila |
| Species: | P. casei |
| Binomial name | |
| Piophila casei (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
The cheese fly (Piophila casei) is a species of fly known for infesting human foodstuffs. The larvae of this fly are known as cheese skippers due to their ability to launch themselves several inches into the air when alarmed. When consumed accidentally, the larvae can survive in the intestine, causing enteric myiasis.
Cheese fly larvae are used to produce casu marzu, a traditional Sardinian cheese.
References
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.