We report for the first time the expression of multiple protease activities in the first instar larva (L1) of the flesh fly Oxysarcodexia thornax (Walker). Zymographic analysis of homogenates from freshly obtained L1 revealed a complex proteolytic profile ranging from 21.5 to 136 kDa. Although some activities were detected at pH 3.5 and 5.5, the optimum pH for most of the proteolytic activities...

Ignatzschineria indica is a Gram-negative bacterium that is commonly associated with the larvae of flesh flies. I. indica is difficult to isolate in routine laboratory procedures but has been associated with neglected wounds infested with maggots, fever, elevated white blood count and C-reactive protein, and polymicrobial culture results. Other specific hematological/immunological changes are n...

Biogeographic barriers have long been implicated as drivers of biological diversification, but how these barriers influence co-occurring taxa can vary depending on factors intrinsic to the organism and in their relationships with other species. Due to the interdependence among taxa, ecological communities present a compelling opportunity to explore how interactions among species may lead to a s...

Storage-protein mRNA was found to be abundant in poly(A)-containing RNA extracted from the fat-body of third-instar larvae of Sarcophaga peregrina (fleshfly). This RNA sedimented at the position of 19S on sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation and the product of its translation in vitro was 75K protein (protein of mol.wt. 75 000), which was precipitated specifically with antibody against stora...

Females of several species of dipteran parasitoids use long-range hearing to locate hosts for their offspring by eavesdropping on the acoustic mating calls of other insects. Males of these acoustic eavesdropping parasitoids also have physiologically functional ears, but so far, no adaptive function for male hearing has been discovered. I investigated the function of male hearing for the sarcoph...

Background Entomological data can provide valuable information for crime scene investigations especially in post-mortem interval (PMI) estimation. This study performed to determine insect fauna of human corpses in Tehran district. Methods Insect specimens were collected from 12 human cadavers during spring and summer 2014 and were identified using morphological characteristics. Results Four...

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 flesh fly Sarcophaga carnaria is commonly used as fishing bait. Immunoglobulin (Ig) E-mediated reactions caused by the handling of this bait have been reported. The earthworm Dendrobaena species is increasingly being used as fishing bait but there have been no reported cases of allergy to this species to date. We studied a 26-year-old amateur angler who presented rhinoconjunctivitis, urtica...

Communities of adult sarcosaprophagous dipterans were evaluated using both Schoenly traps (BST) baited with rabbit carcasses and the traditional forensic methodology (TradC) in the Sabana de Bogotà, Colombia. During 42 sampling days, 2,726 adult dipterans were collected (2,291 by BST and 435 by TradC) belonging to 31 morphospecies (31 by BST and 23 by TradC) and 14 families (14 by BST and 10 by...