Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794) occurs on every continent and is closely associated with carrion and decaying material in human environments. Its abilities to find dead bodies and carry pathogens give it a prominence in human affairs that may involve prosecution or litigation, and therefore forensic entomologists. The identification, geographical distribution and biology of the species are reviewed to provide a background for approaches that four branches of forensic entomology (urban, stored-product, medico-criminal and environmental) might take to investigations involving this fly.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20961790.2018.1426136

The uses of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in forensic entomology

The duration of the developmental stages of the insects depends on the temperature. The carrion flies are the best indicators to determine the post mortem interval in the criminal cases. rnChrysomya megacephala (Fabricus, 1794) is one of the Calliphorid flies having forensic and medical importance. In the present studies C. megacephala larvae were reared in incubator at 20, 25, 30, 35, and 400C separately in the incubator. The duration and the morphometric measurements of the developmental stages of C. megacephala for different temperatures were recorded.rnResults obtained indicates that the developmental stages of C. megacephala grew normally up to 35 oC but at higher temperatures Chrysomya megacephala shows mortality, however the rate of the development of the developing stages increased with the increase in temperature. The life cycle was completed in about 14 days at 20 0C, 12 days at 25 0C, 10 days at 30 0C, 8 days at 35 0C and 7 days at 40 0C.

https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2016/vol4issue3/PartC/4-2-15.pdf

Effect of constant temperature (20 0C, 25 0C, 30 0C, 35 0C, 40 0C) on the development of the Calliphorid fly of forensic importance, Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricus, 1794)

Effect of dimethoate on the developmental rate of forensic importance Calliphoridae flies.

Chrysomya megacephala Fabricius is one of the most common myiasis-causing and carrion-feeding fly species in the tropics. This species has a worldwide distribution due to globalization and therefore is of critical importance to the public health sector and forensic investigations. Development studies carried worldwide show that Ch. megacephala reared at similar temperatures may require different amounts of time to complete their cycle of growth. The present study determined for the first time the life-history information of this species in Sri Lanka. Chrysomya megacephala colonies were reared on three different food sources (bovine muscle, swine muscle, and swine liver) considering the most common forensic entomology rearing mediums and the capability of Ch. megacephala to cause myiasis in cattle. Furthermore, colonies were reared at four temperature regimes representing several specific development conditions of this blowfly: 1) 20°C representing the estimation of the lower developmental threshold for this species in Sri Lanka; 2) 25 and 27°C representing typical room/environmental temperatures in Sri Lanka; and 3) 38°C as this is the typical living animal temperature, representing myiasis conditions. Results show that temperature significantly affected larval length and width over time; however, tissue type was not a significant factor. The fastest development was recorded at 38°C for immature feeding on bovine muscle (162.15 h), followed by those fed swine liver (184.15 h) and swine muscle (208.00 h). The calculated minimum temperature threshold for Ch. megacephala was 13°C. Data generated will be crucial for future forensic investigations involving living or deceased individuals colonized by this species.

Effect of Temperature and Tissue Type on the Development of the Forensic Fly Chrysomya megacephala (Diptera: Calliphoridae).

Lucilia cuprina is one of the forensically important Calliphoridae fly. L. cuprina is a helpful resource at the crime scenes as well as a nuisance to sheep. It is known to be one of the first flies to occupy a corpse upon its death. Due to this, it has great importance in forensic field to find out post-mortem interval. In this study, the development of L. cuprina is studied in an incubator at different constant temperatures. Larvae of the L. cuprina were reared in an incubator at 20°C, 25°C, 30°C, 35°C, and 40°C. During study the developmental data, temperature and relative humidity of the rearing room as well as weight, length of the larvae were recorded from the time the larvae were collected until the adult flies emerge out.
Results obtained show that development of the L. cuprina was slow at lower temperature. At the high temperature, developmental rate was fast. At low temperature L. cuprina attained greatest body weight whereas at high temperature there was a decrease in the weight. When flies were reared at 40°C the development of the fly was much more rapid but slight mortality was observed. Above study shows that temperature plays a very important role in the development of L. cuprina. For the correct estimation of post-mortem interval this study is very useful, because each dipteran fly has its own developmental period with respect to temperature and region.

https://www.longdom.org/open-access/effect-of-differentconstant-temperature-on-the-life-cycle-of-a-fly-offorensic-importance-lucilia-cuprina-2161-0983-1000183.pdf

Effect of Different Constant Temperature on the Life Cycle of a Fly of Forensic Importance Lucilia cuprina

Sarcophaga (Liosarcophaga) Geetai, flesh fly is a new species of genus Sarcophaga reported from Aurangabad City, Maharashtra state of India. Sarcophaga Geetai was found in the campus of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad during the Ph.D. research work, on different species of forensic importance. The fly is of medical importance, causing myiasis and useful in determination of post mortem interval.

https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2016/vol4issue3/PartE/4-3-140-119.pdf

New species of flesh fly (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) Sarcophaga (Liosarcophaga) Geetai in India

Many of the blow flies (Calliphoridae) are of economic importance because of their effects on public health and the economy by causing myiasis in human beings and animals. Blow flies are also, however, forensic bioindicators since they can be used to determine the Post-Mortem Interval (PMI). Chrysomya saffranea (Bigot 1877), a dipteran calliphoridae of forensic and economic importance is currently endemic and recorded only in Australia and New Guinea. Here, the occurrence of C. saffranea is reported for the first time from Aurangabad City, Maharashtra State in India. Fully grown third instar larvae of C. saffranea were collected from decaying cats. The larvae were reared under laboratory conditions and adult flies freshly emerged from pupae were collected and identified by their morphological features.

First record of Chrysomya saffranea (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance in India.

/pdf/effects-of-temperature-on-the-development-of-calliphorid-fly-32rrzkeovi.pdf

Effects of Temperature on the Development of Calliphorid fly of forensic importance Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794)

The utility of Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit I gene (COI) DNA barcode for the identification of four species of forensically important blowflies of the genus Chrysomya (Diptera: Calliphoridae), from Maharashtra, India, was tested to confirm the morphological identification. And in molecular identification, fragment of 658 bp of COI gene was sequenced of four specimens. In the genus of Chrysomya, the means of the nucleotide composition frequency distribution were G= 15.66%, C =15.5%, A= 30.55% and T= 38.3%. In the phylogeny report it was shown that Chrysomya saffranea and Chrysomya megacephala are close ancestors and monophyletic which means that they are genetically similar but the morphological appearance of these species can be distinguished. Chrysomya sp. and Chrysomya rufifacies are also monophyletic; both are genetically close with 0.3% distance. And both Chrysomya sp. and Chrysomya rufifacies are slightly similar morphologically, and both are hairy maggot species, but they differ from each other in some of the morphological marks. So we consider the Chrysomya sp. as a new species and named as Chrysomya indiana. The result displays the utility of COI gene as an identification marker, since the nucleotide variations give a clear and powerful difference between species. Four new COI gene sequences have been added to GenBank and out of them one was consider as a new species, therefore, these sequences can be of concern for correct species identification for future workers.

https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2017/vol5issue1/PartA/4-6-121-587.pdf

Molecular identification of forensically important blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) with a record of a new species from Maharashtra India

The insecticidal property of dry leaves of Vitex negundo against the Sitophilus granarius in the laboratory at (28±3) 0C and (78±3) % r. h. with Soxhlet extracted extracts of V. negundo leaves in ethanol, methanol, chloroform, acetone and n-Hexane were tested and found very effective to control the store grain insect pest. The biopesticidal effects of extracts in different solvents were compared by calculating LD10, LD50, LD90 and LD99 values for 96 hrs. The Probit analysis of data demonstrated that LD values for ethanol, methanol, chloroform, acetone and n-Hexane extracts were LD10 – 1.216, 1.141, 0.9298, 1.265, 0.5398 ml/Kg; LD50 – 2.997, 3.106, 2.490, 3.727, 1.302 ml/Kg; LD90 – 7.392, 8.457, 6.667, 10.98, 3.142 ml/Kg and LD99 –15.43, 19.14, 14.88, 26.50, 6.439 ml/Kg respectively, for 96 hrs. These results demonstrated that the mortality increased with increase in concentration of extract and exposure time. There was nearly zero fecundity and next generation was not observed in treated grains. The extracts of V. negundo leaf may be of high value in grain storage against S. granarius, especially in subsistence agriculture where the plants are locally available to local farmers. Hence, we conclude that the ethanol, chloroform and n-Hexane extracts from V. negundo leaf are more effective and useful. It served as being a potential insecticidal agent and could be applicable to the management of populations of stored-product insects particularly against the infestation by granary weevil, S. granarius after proper dose formulation.

https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2020/vol8issue2/PartZ/8-2-222-960.pdf

S. P. Zambare

Papers

New species of flesh fly (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) Sarcophaga (Liosarcophaga) Geetai in India

First record of Chrysomya saffranea (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance in India.

Effects of Temperature on the Development of Calliphorid fly of forensic importance Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794)

Molecular identification of forensically important blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) with a record of a new species from Maharashtra India

Bioinsecticidal activity of Vitex negundo L. (Family: Verbenaceae) leaf extracts against Sitophilus granarius L. in stored maize grains