Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826)

Loading...

Green bottle fly, or blow fly, Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is distributed throughout the world (e.g. Australia (Fuller, 1934), Europe (Grassberger and Reiter, 2001), and North America (Anderson, 2000). This species is a large fly (~1 cm) and metallic green with a complete life cycle (holometabolous: egg, larva, pupa, and adult). Offspring (i.e. larvae or maggots) develop on decomposing material, such as vertebrate carrion (Holdaway, 1930) or swine or poultry waste (Cicková et al., 2015). The life cycle of the fly can be completed in approximately two weeks or less depending on environmental conditions, such as temperature or resource type (Anderson, 2000). Larvae are high in protein and fat and can be used as feed for various livestock.

References

  • Anderson, G.S., 2000. Minimum and maximum development rates of some forensically important Calliphoridae (Diptera). Journal of Forensic Sciences 45: 824–332.
  • Cicková, H., Newton, G.L., Lacy, R.C. and Kozanek, M., 2015. The use of fly larvae for organic waste treatment. Waste Management 35: 68–80.
  • Grassberger, M. and Reiter, C., 2001. Effect of temperature on Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) development with special reference to the isomegalen– and isomorphen-diagram. Forensic Science International 120: 32–36.
  • Holdaway, F.G., 1930. Field population and natural control of Lucilia sericata. Nature 126: 648–649.
 

Classification

Lucilia sericata
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Insecta
Order Diptera
Family Calliphoridae
Genus Lucilia
Species L. sericata
   
Author citation (Meigen, 1826)
Common name common green bottle fly