The blowflies of the Madeira Archipelago: species diversity, distribution and identification (Diptera, Calliphoridae s. l.)

Abstract

Knowledge on the taxonomic diversity and distribution of blowflies from the Madeira Archipelago is updated. New and interesting findings are reported for poorly studied islands and islets of this archipelago, together with a brief analysis of the diversity of Macaronesian Calliphoridae s. l. Seven blowfly species were collected during this study, including the first records of Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830, Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819), Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826), Pollenia rudis (Fabricius, 1794) and Stomorhina lunata (Fabricius, 1805) from Porto Santo, and of Calliphora vicina, Lucilia sericata and Stomorhina lunata from Desertas Islands. The presence of Calliphora loewi Enderlein, 1903 in Madeira Laurisilva forest is discussed and its first instar larva is redescribed, revealing important differences in relation to its original description. An identification key to the adult Madeiran blowflies is provided for the first time.

First contribution on distribution, abundance, and species richness of blowfly species (Diptera) of Isparta Province with five new records for the Turkish fauna

“…As a result of our study, totally 15 species were determined with 201 specimens from the following species: Bellardia tatrica, Calliphora subalpina, C. vicina, C. vomitoria, Chrysomya albiceps, Lucilia caesar, L. cuprina, L. sericata, L. silvarum, Melinda gentilis, Pollenia amentaria, P. griseomentosa, P. pediculata, P. rudis, and Rhyncomya cyanescens. The former subfamily Rhiniinae was raised to the family level (Castro et al, 2016). In that study, this family was represented by only R. cyanescens.…”

Post-Mortem Interval Estimation Based on Insect Evidence: Current Challenges

“…The identification of insect evidence is a necessary first step in any analysis. Significant progress has been recently made in this field, with several forensically important fly taxa gaining excellent identification keys for adult insects [13,[157][158][159][160][161] and larvae [162][163][164]. Puparia should be the next step.…”

Catalog of the family Calliphoridae (Diptera: Oestroidea) of Mexico

“…Flies of the family Calliphoridae are commonly known in English as blow flies, green bottles or blue bottles, and in Spanish "moscas metálicas" or "moscas panteoneras", with some species very familiar to people around the world (Prado e Castro et al, 2016). It has a great diversity within calyptrate Diptera with about 1,500 described species belonging to 150 genera present in all biogeographic regions (Rognes, 1991).…”

“…Blow flies are medium-size Diptera (4-16 mm) some with a beautiful metallic color (iridescence) ranging from green, blue to purplish and violet, while some others have duller coloration, but all with some degree of metallic reflections. Males are usually holoptic and females dichoptic with chaetotaxy similar in both sexes (Prado e Castro et al, 2016;Wolff & Kosmann, 2016). Adult Calliphoridae are found in wide variety of habits; some species feed on nectar and are pollinators, other species are parasites of worms, bird nestlings and snails, a few have medical and veterinary importance causing myiasis or mechanical transmission of pathogens, but the bulk of species are associated with decaying animal and vegetable matter and feces (Norris, 1966;Rognes, 1998;Zumpt, 1965;Prado e Castro et al, 2016).…”

“…Males are usually holoptic and females dichoptic with chaetotaxy similar in both sexes (Prado e Castro et al, 2016;Wolff & Kosmann, 2016). Adult Calliphoridae are found in wide variety of habits; some species feed on nectar and are pollinators, other species are parasites of worms, bird nestlings and snails, a few have medical and veterinary importance causing myiasis or mechanical transmission of pathogens, but the bulk of species are associated with decaying animal and vegetable matter and feces (Norris, 1966;Rognes, 1998;Zumpt, 1965;Prado e Castro et al, 2016). Immature stages feed on a wide variety of substrates including carcasses and healthy/necrotic tissues of vertebrates, and some feed on amphibians, birds or mammals' blood (Wolff & Kosmann, 2016).…”