1. The potential difference across the hindgut of Sarcophaga is 30 mV, in vivo, the lumen being negative with respect to the haemolymph. A potential difference of the same polarity exists in the isolated hindgut. 2. The potential difference is not a simple diffusion potential, since it is maintained in the absence of any ionic concentration difference across the gut, and is dependent on energy ...

A total of 101 entomological specimens recovered from human cadavers were processed and studied. Analysis of the data indicated that about 95% of these specimens were maggots of flies. Maggots of the blowfly Chrysomya (Family: Calliphoridae) especially Ch. rufifacis and Ch. megacephala were predominantly found in 77 cases (76.2%) while larvae of several other flies of the genera Sarcophaga, Cal...

Chemical signals used by parasitoids to Þnd hosts often originate from the host, its habitat, or both, providing critical cues for locating hosts that are often cryptic or highly dispersed. MelittobiaWestwood are gregarious ectoparasitoids, which primarily attack Trypoxylon politum Say prepupae.HowMelittobia locates its host is unknown, but itmay involve host-related chemical signals. Therefore...

The pupae of Sarcophaga peregrina received x-ray in the early pupal stage, and their oxygen consumption was measured throughout the pupal stage. Three patterns of radiation effects were found according to doses. With small irradiation doses, inhibitory effect on oxygen uptake was evident, but the survival time of the pupae was the same as that in non-irradiated, non-fed pupae. With medium irrad...

Since Bünning's observation of circadian rhythms and photoperiodism in the runner bean Phaseolus multiflorus in 1936, many studies have shown that photoperiodism is based on the circadian clock system. In insects, involvement of circadian clock genes or neurons has been recently shown in the photoperiodic control of developmental arrests, diapause. Photoperiod sets peaks of period (per) or time...

We purified a novel serine protease with a molecular mass of 26 kDa from Sarcophaga pupae. This protease appeared almost exclusively in the yellow body, an organ that develops temporarily in the pupae of dipteran insects and expands to form the adult midgut by engulfing the larval midgut. cDNA analysis revealed that this protease consists of 239 amino acid residues and has significant structura...

The sperm flagella of the blowfly Sarcophaga bullata demonstrate the relationship of radial projections in the matrix region to the microtubule organization of the axoneme. The A microtubule of each peripheral doublet is connected to the central sheath by a series of paired radial links. The links lie along the tubule wall with a alternate spacing of about 320/560 A. The distal end of each link...

This is the first report of arthropods associated with carrion in Venezuela, using laboratory bred rats (Rattus norvegicus). Rat carcasses were exposed to colonization by arthropods in neighboring montane savanna and cloud forest habitats in the state of Miranda. The taxonomic composition of the arthropods varied between both ecosystems. Scarabaeidae, Silphidae, Micropezidae, Phoridae, Vespidae...