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The larvae of Megaselia scalaris (Diptera: Phoridae) exploit a broad spectrum of larval pabula. Consequently, the species features in a range of situations that affect the resources or well-being of humans. Furthermore, M. scalaris is readily cultured in the laboratory and is therefore favored as an experimental species for genetic, developmental, and bioassay studies. However, the extensive but widely scattered literature, reviewed herein, is frequently ignored by specialists, which gives rise to the unwitting repetition of previous work as well as insupportable proposals.

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Myiasis, the invasion of live human tissue by larvae of Diptera, is reported in the nasopharynx and a leg wound in two patients who were hospitalized for more than 72 hours in Mubarak Al-Kabeer Teaching Hospital in Kuwait City, Kuwait. On the fourth and fifth days after a 10-year-old Kuwaiti boy was admitted to the hospital intensive care unit in a bloodied and comatose state following a traffic accident, 'worms' that came out of his nostrils were fixed, cleared, and identified as second and third instar of Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae). After 14 days, 'worms' were seen in the original dressing of a 35-year-old Iranian man admitted to the Orthopedic Unit of the hospital with multiple lacerations and fractures. The larvae, in various stages of development, were identified as those of Megaselia scalaris (Diptera: Phoridae). Since the presence of larvae in both patients was recorded after a stay of at least 3-4 days in the hospital, by definition, these infestations are considered nosocomial.

An urban biodiversity study sampling primarily from private backyards in Los Angeles, California (USA), reveals the presence of fifty-six species of Megaselia within the first few months of sampling. Thirty of these are described as new to science:

BackgroundPresented are continued results from the BioSCAN Project, an urban biodiversity study sampling primarily from private backyards in Los Angeles, California (USA).Presented are continued results from the BioSCAN Project, an urban biodiversity study sampling primarily from private backyards in Los Angeles, California (USA).New informationTwelve new species of Megaselia (Diptera: Phoridae) are described: M. baileyae, M. friedrichae, M. gonzalezorum, M. joanneae, M. losangelensis, M. phyllissunae, M. pongsaiae, M. shatesae, M. stoakesi, M. studentorum, M. voluntariorum, M. wongae.

Entomological evidence is often used in forensic cases for post-mortem interval (PMI) calculation. The most dominant species present on a corpse are typically blowflies. However, several cases have been reported where access to a corpse has been restricted for blowflies (e.g., on a buried or wrapped cadavers) but species of the family Phoridae were abundant. It has also been reported that some phorid species that exploit human corpses may also feature in cases of myiasis acquired ante-mortem. In all these cases, they may provide decisive evidence. As for blowflies, the precise identification of a phorid species collected from a corpse is necessary when estimating the PMI. Since morphological determination is often hampered due to similar characteristics especially in the larval and pupal stage, we used DNA-based methods to identify six phorid species (Megaselia scalaris, Megaselia giraudii, Megaselia abdita, Megaselia rufipes, Conicera tibialis, and Puliciphora borinquenensis) on the molecular level. We focused on a 658-bp-long region of the cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI), the most common molecular marker in forensic entomology. The amplified fragment is also used in DNA barcode approaches and was found to be suitable for identification of a wide range of insect taxa. The present study demonstrates that this region is also sufficient to distinguish between several species of scuttle flies.

The work of and Lainson & Strangways-Dixon (1964) in British Honduras indicates that dermal leishmaniasis is to be regarded as a zoonosis, and thus bears out the opinion of Adler (1964) that the leishmaniases of the New World are " obviously zoonoses ". It would seem that a desirable tool for investigating this complex of zoonoses would be a trap for catching Phlebotomine sandflies attracted to proven or possible vertebrate hosts of Leishmania. However, the results of work at the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (1963, 1964) have been discouraging. It is reported that " considerable effort was devoted to devising and field-testing various types of traps baited with live animals of different kinds. However, relatively few sandflies were caught in any of these traps (rarely more than one or two and mostly none at all) compared with their abundance measured by direct catches on man or horses." Direct catching on caged animals visited at half-hour intervals at night was then tried, and large numbers of sandflies, mainly of common man-biting species, were caught by this method. Development of a new trapAn attempt to produce a trap was started by modifying the ' double-baited cage trap ' for mosquitos of Worth & Jonkers (1962), but with no success. Various kinds of trap derived from these modified mosquito traps were likewise unsuccessful. Rats were used as bait in all the trials. On the supposition that sandflies might be entering the traps only to find their way out again, panels of white card coated with castor oil were introduced, and these did, at last, trap some sandflies. But over a period of some weeks only 7 females and 5 males of Phlebotomus were collected from the oiled panels. This result, especially the capture of male flies, suggested that the insects entered the trap by chance and not necessarily because they were attracted to the rodent bait, and such a view was supported by the presence in a trap of one example of P. trinidadensis Newst., a well-known reptile feeder. On the other hand, perhaps some feature of the trap, such as the white cloth covering, was attracting the few sandflies that were caught. Before these possibilities were explored, other kinds of baited trap were tried. These were made from sheet metal; and models with two open sides, in which the floor of the trap (surrounding a rat's cage) was coated with castor oil, at once started to catch sandflies in larger numbers, over 90 per cent, being females. Furthermore, traps with more than two open sides, caught still larger numbers. From these considerations and results the trap next described has been derived.