The head of a common blowfly, possibly Calliphora vomitoria. These hairy flies have a metallic sheen to their abdomen and normally live around rubbish dumps or wherever meat or waste is found. Note the two very large compound eyes situated dorsolaterally on the head and two small sensory antennae which appear bright in the picture.

(Approx. X20)

Surface of blowfly compound eye showing individual ommatidia. Each ommatidium is capped by a cuticular biconvex lens called the cornea. The compound eye is not a single organ but a collection of hundreds, possibly thousands, of individual eyes each with its own cornea.

(Approx. X375)

The mouthparts of the blowfly are modified for sponging food. The lobes of the labella (middle of image) on the oral disc are soft, covered in sensory hairs, and used to mould the proboscis to a surface on which the fly is feeding. On the inner labellum surface are found the pseudotracheae through which food passes into the mouth. The pseudotracheae of the labellum are used as a 'sponge'.

(Approx. X100)

A typical insect leg consists of six segments. This image shows the distal segment of a blowfly leg, termed the pretarsus, bearing a pair of claws. The pretarsus has two pad-like pulvilli, under the claws, covered in adhesive setae that allow the fly to grip surfaces.

(Approx. X125)