Flies of colour

[Thomas H. Slone]

>Comments on existing entriesThis is a narrow topic, but I am none the wiser!
>Is blulang derived from blue + lang or blow + lang?
>
>As far as I have paid attention, a blulang is indeed blue, but I stll
>suspect this is not the derivation.
>Can anyone tell?
>
>John Burton

Perhaps this will clarify things.  Powell & Hogue in their California 
Insects book say that blow flies are often metallic green or blue. 
The Macquarie Dictionary (McMahons Point, NSW: Macquairie Library, 
1981) defines blowfly as "any of various true flies, of the order 
Dipter, which deposit their eggs or larvae on carcasses or meat, or 
in sores, wounds, etc., esp. the blue blowfly, Lucilia cuprina."

PNG may not have the same blowfly species as Australia (there is no 
good general PNG insect book as far as I can tell), but it's likely 
that the "blu" in "blu lang" is derived from blue rather than blow, 
since many blowfly species are metallic blue.
--Tom Slone
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