Bot flies are not generally considered festive. This is especially true if you are a reindeer, which often have reindeer nasal bot flies, or snot bots, as they are affectionately known.

Sometimes entomologists get up close and personal with the bugs they study. And sometimes they incubate bot flies in their own arms until the parasites burst out of their skin a la the movie "Alien.

Courtesy of tatvandh.saglik.gov.tr/ The species most commonly involved in ophthalmomyiasis is called Oestrus ovis, also known as the sheep bot fly. As part of their life cycle, these flies deposit ...

Then the bumps started moving. A doctor found five active bot fly larvae living beneath the skin atop Dallas' head. "I'd put my hand back there and feel them moving. I thought it was blood ...