Last Guests at the Body Buffet

A cross-stitch chart presenting different flies and beetles that are known to feast on the human body once it starts decomposing (yum).

ChatGPT was very kind to write a poem about a sassy flesh fly:

In the corner of the room,
There buzzed a flesh fly’s tune,
Its wings a blur of black and grey,
As it sought out its next prey.

With legs like spindly sticks,
It crawled across the ceiling bricks,
And as it perched upon the sill,
It gave a hungry, buzzing thrill.

No crumb of bread, no piece of cheese,
Could ever hope to be at ease,
For when the flesh fly came to call,
Its hunger knew no bounds at all.

So let us all beware this beast,
This buzzing, hungry, winged feist,
And keep our food far from its reach,
Lest we become its midnight feast.

In the chart, you will see the following:

• The common green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata)
• Blow fly larvae
• Flesh fly, Sarcophaga
• American carrion beetle (Necrophila Americana)
• Hister beetles, Histeridae
• Nitidulidae, or sap beetles

My reference article for this insect cross-stitch pattern was Flies and Beetles That Turn Death Into Dinner by Entomology Today.