Temperature and Tissue Type Impact Development of Lucilia cuprina (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in Sri Lanka. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann; Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a facultative ecto-parasitic fly, distributed throughout the temperate and subtropical regions of the world. This blow fly species is of medical, veterinary, and forensic importance due to it being used in maggot debridement therapy (MDT), a causative agent of myiasis, and a decomposer of vertebrate carrion. The current study examined the combined effects of temperature and tissue type on the development of L. cuprina. Specimens were reared on three tissue types; swine muscle, swine liver, and bovine muscle at 20C, 25C, 27C, and 38C. The optimum condition for L. cuprina development was for immatures reared on bovine muscle (287.4 h) followed by those reared on swine muscle (288.0 h) and swine liver (288.4 h) at 27C. The minimum temperature threshold of L. cuprina was deduced to be 14C. No significant differences in larval width and length over time were determined for the tissue type.

published proceedings

  • J Med Entomol

altmetric score

  • 1

author list (cited authors)

  • Bambaradeniya, Y., Karunaratne, W., Tomberlin, J. K., Goonerathne, I., & Kotakadeniya, R. B.

citation count

  • 8

complete list of authors

  • Bambaradeniya, Y Tharindu B||Karunaratne, WA Inoka P||Tomberlin, Jeffery K||Goonerathne, Induwara||Kotakadeniya, Rasika B

publication date

  • February 2018