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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: