BACKGROUND The aim of his study was to determine development time and thermal requirements of three myiasis flies including Chrysomya albiceps, Lucilia sericata, and Sarcophaga sp. METHODS Rate of development (ROD) and accumulated degree day (ADD) of three important forensic flies in Iran, Chrysomya albiceps, Lucilia sericata, and Sarcophaga sp. by rearing individuals under a single constant ...

Many studies on the visually guided orientation behavior of insects have revealed a wealth of fascinating mechanisms which enable these small animals to make their way with usually much less than one milligram of brain (see Chapter 11). However, only a few studies have been devoted to insect eye movements although it is clear that most insects can turn their head, and thus their eyes relative t...

Series of concentrations of 15 aliphatic alcohols were presented in 0.1 M sucrose to the tarsi of antennectomized-labellectomized blowflies (Phormia regina Meigen). With the pri-n-alcohols the mean concentrations at rejection formed a Traube series. When the rejection thresholds for all the alcohols tested were compared with their boiling points, vapor pressures, molecular surface areas) molecu...

During courtship, male blowflies perform aerobatic pursuits that rank among the fastest visual behaviours that can be observed in nature. The viewing strategies during pursuit behaviour of blowflies appear to be very similar to eye movements during pursuit in primates: a combination of smooth pursuit and catch-up saccades. Whereas in primates these two components of pursuit eye movements are th...

Statistical properties of spike trains measured from a sensory neuron in vivo are studied experimentally and theoretically. Experiments are performed on an identified neuron in the visual system of the blowfly. It is shown that the spike trains exhibit universal behavior over a short time, modulated by a stimulus-dependent envelope over a long time. A model of the neuron as a nonlinear oscillat...

The strength of stimulus-induced responses at the neuronal and the behavioural level often depends on the internal state of an animal. Within pathways processing sensory information and eventually controlling behavioural responses, such gain changes can originate at several sites. Using motion-sensitive lobula plate tangential cells (LPTCs) of blowflies, we address whether and in which way info...

Because fish represent the principal methylmercury (MeHg) pool in the water column of freshwater systems, MeHg released from their carcasses could represent an important flux to the environment. Necrophagous invertebrates such as fly larvae can play an important role in this Hg recycling. We studied Hg accumulation by blowflies (Diptera, Calliphoridae) feeding on beached fish carcasses in the f...

Using the rate of development of blowflies colonising a corpse, accumulated degree hours (ADH), or days (ADD), is an established method used by forensic entomologists to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI). Derived from laboratory experiments, their application to field situations needs care. This study examines the effect of the post-feeding larval dispersal time on the ADH and therefore t...

The objective of this work was to establish, under experimental laboratory conditions, a colony of Lucilia sericata, Bogotá-Colombia strain, to build life tables and evaluate two artificial diets. This blowfly is frequently used in postmortem interval studies and in injury treatment. The parental adult insects collected in Bogotá were maintained in cages at 22°C±1 average temperature, 60%±5 rel...