Return of the rat-tailed maggots

2008-11-20 11:38

Cape Town - Rat-tailed maggots will soon reappear in Cape Town, but there is no need to panic, the city said.

Clive Justus, mayoral committee member for utility services, said on Thursday that the onset of warmer summer weather after a wet winter meant it was inevitable that the maggots would appear wherever there was stagnant water.

However, tests in previous years had shown conclusively that the creatures were not in the city's drinking water supply and that their presence was due to localised infestations at homes and buildings.

Their appearance did not mean the city's drinking water was contaminated by sewage, Justus said.

Drone fly larva

The maggot was the larva or juvenile stage of the drone fly, a creature which resembled a honeybee and mimicked its behaviour.

Drone flies did not carry disease and were important pollinators that visited flowers for nectar.

They laid their eggs in wet areas.

The "rat tail" of the larva was in fact a tube that allowed it to breathe in shallow water.

- SAPA