''Cobboldia'' is a genus of

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

flies in the family

Oestridae Botflies, also known as warble flies, heel flies, and gadflies, are a family of flies known as the Oestridae. Their larvae are internal parasites of mammals, some species growing in the host's flesh and others within the gut. ''Dermatobia homin ...

. Adult flies of '' Cobboldia elephantis'' lay their eggs near the mouth or base of the tusks of

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

while the related '' Cobboldia loxodontis'' (=''Platycobboldia loxodontis'') parasitizes African elephants. The larvae hatch and develop in the mouth cavity and later move to the stomach. On maturing, the third instar larvae exit from the mouth and drop to the ground to pupate. A fossil species '' Cobboldia russanovi'' is known from the frozen remains of

Mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

s. ''Cobboldia roverei'' Gedoelst, 1915 (=''Rodhainommia roverei'', the green elephant stomach bot fly) has been noted from the African Forest Elephant. The genus is named after

Thomas Spencer Cobbold Thomas Spencer Cobbold FRS (26 May 182810 March 1886) was an English biologist. Life He was born at Ipswich, the third son of Rev. Richard Cobbold, author of the ''History of Margaret Catchpole''. After graduating in medicine at the Univers ...

(1828 - 1886) who described the first species as ''Gastrophilus elephantis''.

Notes

References

*Grunin, K.Y. 1973. The first finding of the stomach bot-fly larvae of the mammoth: ''Cobboldia'' (''Mamontia'', subgen. n.) ''russanovi'', ''sp. nov.'' (Diptera, Gasterophilidae). Entomol. Obozr. 52: 228–33. nglish translation, 1973, Entomol. Rev. 52(1): 165–69.*Pont, A. (1976) The date and author of ''Cobboldia elephantis'' (Diptera: Gasterophilidae). ''Zeitschrschrift fur Angewandte Zoologie'' 63: 23

External links

Life cycle
Oestridae Parasitic flies Taxa named by Friedrich Moritz Brauer Oestroidea genera {{Oestroidea-stub