Photo 5557577, (c) c greene, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by c greene

Attribution © c greene
some rights reserved
Uploaded by cgnpark cgnpark
Source iNaturalist
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Schizophoran Flies (Zoosection Schizophora)

Observer

cgnpark

Date

November 18, 2016 04:25 PM PST

Description

Today I was hiking in Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, CA. At the base of a dead Doug Fir on a shady, north-facing slope, I smelled something rancid and saw 3 mounds/piles of these muddy grubs/maggots. They were not feeding on vegetation or anything dead in the soil, or scat. It was just them in the moist dirt. I could not see any place they might have come from on the tree. There were hundreds of them - moving slowly because it was cold. Anyone know what these might be, and why they would be in such a large concentration?

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