Morphological and mitochondrial DNA characters for identification and phylogenetic analysis of the myiasis‐causing flesh flyWohlfahrtia magnificaand its relatives, with a description ofWohlfahrtia monegrosensissp. n. Wyatt & Hall

Abstract

. Wohlfahrtia magnifica (Schiner) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) is a major cause of traumatic myiasis in livestock in Central and Eastern Europe and in countries bordering the Mediterranean. The present study explored the utility of external body characters, genitalia characters and mitochondrial DNA characters for identification of this and related species in the subfamily Paramacronychiinae. Sequence analyses of the 3 ′ terminal 273 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene revealed two lineages of W. magnifica , one from Spain and France and the other from the rest of Eurasia, differing by only two base pairs. Phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome b showed that W. magnifica and Wohlfahrtia vigil Walker were sister species; this conclusion was not contradicted by a phylogenetic analysis of the morphological characters. Based on cytochrome b , the genetic distance between specimens of W. vigil from Europe and North America was sufficiently large to justify the recognition of more than one species. A new species, Wohlfahrtia monegrosensis , from northern Spain, was described, based on morphology and cytochrome b . A unique combination of external body characters of males or females were diagnostic for W. magnifica , the W. vigil group and Wohlfahrtia bella , but only the genitalia characters were diagnostic for all nine species studied.

Taxonomic review of the Sphecapatodes ornata group (Diptera: Sarcophagidae: Miltogramminae), with description of one new species

“…The current data are very preliminary due to limited material and in particular the lack of females, but as evident from Figure 8A,C, there is no difference in the male and female WIPs of S. kaszabi, and all three species are easily identified from their WIP. This indicates that WIPs have the potential both of being a useful tool for correctly associating male and female specimens, which is a well-known problem in many sarcophagid groups (Hall et al 2009;Zhang et al 2013), and as an additional species-specific character complex. Obtaining WIP data in the form of digital photographs is remarkably simple (Buffington and Sandler 2011; and WIPs might therefore be a new and rapid way to identify adult sarcophagids and associate males and females.…”

First report of Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica bacteraemia in South Africa

“…[4] This fly has been reported as the cause of myiasis in live vertebrates in Spain, France, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Korea. [5] This report should help increase clinicians' awareness of this rare zoonotic pathogen and alert diagnostic microbiology laboratories that the bacteria can currently only be identified using mass spectrometry technology and molecular methods.…”

Enabling technologies to improve area‐wide integrated pest management programmes for the control of screwworms

“…bezziana is extremely large and, as a consequence, sampling has been very patchy and there are several large gaps, including all of India and the Horn of Africa. During the course of the larval sampling much new information was collected on the host preference, prevalence, and epidemiology of the three screwworm species (Hall et al , 2009; Coronado & Kowalski, 2009; Farkas et al , 2009). During sampling for Wohlfahrtia in Northern Spain, a new species was collected and described (Hall et al , 2009).…”