No, bot flies are NOT a viable weight loss option

 Biology, Insects, Natural History  12 Responses »
Feb 232013
 

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I never could have guessed that I’d stumble across the most bizarre and terrifying fly-related idea I’d ever heard later that day. But then again, the internet is a weird and wacky place, so perhaps I should have known better.

While innocently looking for scanning electron micrographs of bot fly larvae (Diptera: Oestridae), I chanced upon Insecti-cure, a website promoting, among other things, a “treatment” for fat removal involving intentional bot fly infestations. Really.

Bot fly larvae are THE safest way for fat to be removed.

the maggots are planted next to the stomach, and will eat around the organs, the treatment, is of course painless, after you have had your injection of morphine and you will only be there for 8hrs, you will be subject to 300 larvae which have antiseptic saliva, to literaly eat the fat away, before this operation you wil need to contact us 3 weeks before in order for us to get our orders ready and don’t worry after the morphine you wont be able to remember anything, even if you are squeemish!

– Insecti-cure Continue reading »

Tuesday Tunes – Lovebug – Jonas Brothers

 Fun Stuff, Insects, Pop Culture, Tuesday Tunes  3 Responses »
Feb 152011
 

Ryan FleacrestWelcome to a special Valentine’s-Day-Hangover Tuesday Tunes! You know the Valentine’s Hangover: the sugar crash from too many cinnamon hearts and boxed chocolates, itchy eyes and throat from all that unseasonal flower pollen, and don’t forget the sore back from sleeping on the couch because you innocently thought your significant other was lusting for another insect net! Everyone knows the best cure for a regular hangover is to keep on drinking*, so today I bring you the Valentine’s day equivalent: sickly-sweet pop music!

Some may consider the Jonas Brothers a plague upon their ears, but today’s musical selection is equally annoying for those living in the southern USA. That’s right, the springtime scourge of motorists, the Lovebug! Not truly a “bug” in the entomological sense, Lovebugs (Plecia nearctica) are in fact flies in the family Bibionidae. These flies emerge on mass in the spring and late summer, immediately begin swarming looking for a mate, and can remain in copula for hours when they find that special someone (hence, the common name). These swarms can reach overwhelming proportions, obscuring windshields, clogging air intakes, and their acidic bodies can ruin vintage car body work if their dead bodies are left to dry. There’s even an urban legend that University of Florida researchers created these “pests” and unleashed them on the public (note this isn’t much different from the origins of the Jonas Brothers…)

That song certainly contains more cheese than last night’s fondue, but I think we’re all over our Valentine’s Day hangover!

I can’t say I planned on featuring both of Disney’s poster children in the first few weeks of this series, so I think the next few weeks will be devoted to some music that will rock the sickly sweet detox program! Fleacrest, out!

If you still need more hangover relief, this song is available on iTunes – Lovebug – A Little Bit Longer (Deluxe Version)

* – Biodiversity in Focus and Ryan Fleacrest urge you to drink responsibly. More alcohol is not actually a cure for a hangover.