Name
Greek: oistros = penetrating fly.
Genus of the dipteran family Oestridae. Oestrus ovis, the so-called sheep-, nose-gadfly, is as adult fly about 10–12 mm long (Fig. 1). It is active in Europe from May to August. The adults do not feed; about 12–20 days after copulation the females start to deposit up to 500 larvae 1, which are placed bomb-like onto the nose/eyes of sheep, but also onto human eyes. The larvae develop inside the nose and later the larvae 3 drop to soil, where pupa-formation and maturation occur within 2–4 weeks; Diptera.
Diagrammatic representation of an adult female of Oestrus ovis
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this entry
Cite this entry
(2016). Oestrus. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43978-4_2194
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43978-4_2194
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-43977-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-43978-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences