Ultrastructure of immature stages of Peckia (Euboetcheria) collusor (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)

Micromorphology of immature stages of Sarcophaga (Liopygia) cultellataPandellé, 1896 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), a forensically important fly

“…At least the anterior and posterior spiracles and the cephalopharyngeal skeleton are described, drawn, or pictured for the third instar larvae of practically all species available in the literature. As regarding SEM descriptions, the sarcophagids have been barely and unevenly studied: the first instar larvae of about 70 European Miltogramminae species is known (Szpila, ; Szpila and Pape, , 2007, ); among the Paramachronychiinae, all the larval stages of Wohlfahrtia magnifica (Schiner, 1862) and first instar larvae of Sarcophila latifrons (Fallén, 1817) are known (Ruíz‐Martínez et al, ; Szpila, ); and from Sarcophaginae, the best studied genus is Sarcophaga , although several non‐Palaeartic species belonging to other genera have also been described (Leite and Lopes, ; Lopes and Leite, ; Mendoça et al, ). With regards to Sarcophaga , three species have been partially described (Aspoas, ), four species have descriptions of third instar larva stage alone (Kirk‐Spriggs, ; Pérez‐Moreno et al, ), and all the immature stages have been described for three more species (Awad et al, ; Draber‐Monko et al, ; Singh et al, ; Sukontason et al, , 2006; Suwannayod et al, ).…”

Description of immature stages of the flesh flyPeckia(Sarcodexia)lambens(Wiedemann) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) provides better resolution for taxonomy and forensics

“…Anal papilla length and spines, even in the spiracular cavity, are variable among many species. In P. (S.) lambens, the papillae do not protrude so conspicuously as in other species (Draber-Mońko et al 2009;Mendonc a et al 2013).…”

“…Identification of these stages using morphology will increase the speed and efficiency of forensic work. In Peckia (Euboettcheria) collusor (Curran and Walley 1934), the third instar larval surface has netlike patches (Mendonc a et al 2013), in contrast with the smooth surface of P. (S.) lambens. The patterns of spines in second and third instars of different species of Peckia remain incompletely described (Buenaventura 2013;Mendonc a et al 2013) and so whether these are good characters for identification is not yet resolved.…”

“…Morphological differences between thoracic and abdominal spines in first instars have been noted in species in other muscoid groups (Bonatto and de Carvalho 1996;Szpila andPape 2008a, 2008b. In first instars, analysis of the cephaloskeleton is essential, and SEM is pointed to be important to resolve characters often not visible using optical microscopy (Mendonc a et al 2013). However, SEM was not required for identification using the principal characters described here, which can easily be seen by light microscopy.…”

“…Identification of flesh fly larvae and pupae is difficult and few references provide detailed morphological data using different techniques, such as optical and scanning microscopy (Szpila and Pape 2005a, 2005b, 2007Szpila 2010;Szpila et al 2015). To describe external morphology of the Sarcophaginae, studies often used only scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Sukontason et al 2003;Mendonc a et al 2013). In humans, necrophagous fly larvae and pupae can be used forensically, mainly to estimate post-mortem interval (Amendt et al 2004), and they are the most common entomological evidence collected when investigating deaths (Byrd and Castner 2001).…”