estridae

1 definition found

estridae - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Botfly \Bot"fly`\, n. (Zool.)
     A dipterous insect of the family (Estrid[ae], of many
     different species, some of which are particularly troublesome
     to domestic animals, as the horse, ox, and sheep, on which
     they deposit their eggs. A common species is one of the
     botflies of the horse (Gastrophilus equi), the larv[ae] of
     which (bots) are taken into the stomach of the animal, where
     they live several months and pass through their larval
     states. In tropical America one species sometimes lives under
     the human skin, and another in the stomach. See Gadfly.
     [1913 Webster]