Immature Stages and Biology of Fifteen Species of Peruvian Calliphoridae (Diptera)

Abstract

Isofemale rearings from egg to adult are reported for 15 species of Peruvian blow flies. Twelve reared for the first time are: Chrysomya chloropyga putoria (Wiedemann), Compsomyiops boliviana (Mello), Compsomyiops verena (Mello), Hemilucilia flavifaces (Engel), Hemilucilia hermanlenti (Mello), Paralucilia fulvinota (Bigot), Calliphora peruviana (Robineau-Desvoidy), Phaenicia ibis (Shannon), Sarconesia chlorogaster (Wiedemann), Sarconesia magellanica (Macquart), Sarconesia splendida (Townsend), and Sarconesia versicolor (Bigot). Cochliomyia macellaria (F.), Phaenicia cuprina (Wiedemann), and Phoenicia eximia (Wiedemann) were also reared. Some of these flies are exclusively Andean or rain forest, others span both habitats. The study includes: descriptions of first, second, and third instars, puparia, and egg plastrons; developmental rates; successional and diel activity of highland flies in Montaro Valley; and a key to the known third instars of Peru. Similarities exist between species of Sarconesia, Calliphora, and Phaenicia in developmental rates and morphology of the immature stages, suggesting that Sarconesia may be more closely related to the Calliphorinae than previously thought.