Diptera are among the most serious arthropod pests affecting mushroom crops. Phorid flies, especially Megaselia halterata, have traditionally been globally considered as a minor pest, although they very important problem on Spanish farms. The concerns with respect to phorid fly populations recently increased, notably jumping from being major pest in India, UK and USA, where yield losses ranging...

One new species of Triphleba Rondani and eight new species of Megaselia Rondani are described from Montseny Natural Park (mainland Spain). The new species are Megaselia arbuciensis García-Romera sp.nov., Megaselia barrientosi García-Romera sp. nov., Megaselia callunae García-Romera sp. nov., Megaselia carminis García-Romera sp. nov., Megaselia ivanis García-Romera sp. nov., Megaselia longianali...

64 species of Phoridae, in 6 genera, are reported from the Kola Peninsula, north of the Arctic Circle. The new species Megaselia elenae and Megaselia kozlovi are described. 33 species of Megaselia, only known from females, are given code numbers. Keys to the species of all the females of Megaselia and Phora are provided; and also a key to the males European Megaselia species with a notopleural ...

Three new species, Megaselia cornipalpis sp. nov., M. lacunitarsalis sp. nov. and M. trimacula sp. nov. are described and illustrated from mainland China. A checklist of species of genus Megaselia recorded from mainland China is provided.

The Drosophila gene bicoid functions at the beginning of a gene cascade that specifies anterior structures in the embryo. Its transcripts are localized at the anterior pole of the oocyte, giving rise to a Bicoid protein gradient, which regulates the spatially restricted expression of target genes along the anterior-posterior axis of the embryo in a concentration-dependent manner. The morphogen ...

The first two cases of the occurrence of Megaselia abdita Schmitz (Diptera: Phoridae) in human corpses in Britain are reported and a further case of M. rufipes (Meigen). In all three cases the corpses experienced low temperatures.

Megaselia scalaris (Loew, 1866) (Diptera, phoridae) is a cosmopolitan fly species used in forensic science, and has been developed as a laboratory model species. They feed on decaying corpses as well as a wide variety of organic matter, and previous studies have even found them feeding on liquid paint or shoe polish, suggesting the possibility that they could breakdown industrial compounds. To ...

The Phoridae is known as 'scuttle flies' because they walk in rapid bursts of movement with short pauses between. In this study, larval locomotive behavior and development was characterized in the phorid, Megaselia scalaris. Comparison was made with the well-characterized fruit fly model, Drosophila melanogaster. Developmentally, the rate of maturation was consistently slower for Megaselia than...

The coffin fly, Megaselia scalaris, is a species of medical and forensic importance and is increasingly being used for the study of genetics. Postmortem interval can be estimated based on the life stage of M. scalaris recovered from corpses, therefore many studies have addressed the duration of each life stage. These studies demonstrate that embryogenesis completes significantly faster in M. sc...