Calliphoridae (Review)

Abstract

The Calliphoridae family attracts many researchers in the phylogeny of myiasis in this family. Nevertheless, even after more than 50 years of research of the phylogenetic relationships among Calliphoridae subfamilies, the origin of myiasis remains unclear. By studying the peculiarities of the ecology of blue-green meat flies, and their adaptation to various habitats, it was found that the transition to facultative parasitism at the larval stage could occur in several ways, and was accompanied by the formation of viviparity. The larval parasitism of Calliphoridae on birds developed as a tendency of evolution. Larvae of the genus Protocalliphora, began feeding on blood of birds, and larvae of the species of the genus Trypocalliphora feed on the host tissues causing myiasis and the death of chicks. In order to elucidate the problem, we constructed three phylogenetic trees using nucleotide sequence data from cytochrome oxidase subunit one gene (COI), representing a mitochondrial conservative gene, and nuclear 28S subunit of ribosomal RNA gene (28S rRNA) in order to interpret the evolutionary profile of myiasis in the family Calliphoridae. Comparative analysis of the phylogenetic trees shows that the habit of obligatory myiasis originated independently more than five times among different calliphorid taxa in the course of evolutionary history. The inclusion of other myiasis-causing families (Oestridae, Gastrophilidae, and Sarcophagidae) along with fundamental life-history studies that deal with biology, physiology, feeding behavior and host specificity in addition to phylogenetic analysis could provide a more accurate answer to the origin of myiasis