First record of Chrysomya saffranea (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance in India

ABSTRACT

Many of the blow flies (Calliphoridae) are of economic importance because of their effects on public health and the economy by causing myiasis in human beings and animals. Blow flies are also, however, forensic bioindicators since they can be used to determine the Post-Mortem Interval (PMI). Chrysomya saffranea (Bigot 1877), a dipteran calliphoridae of forensic and economic importance is currently endemic and recorded only in Australia and New Guinea. Here, the occurrence of C. saffranea is reported for the first time from Aurangabad City, Maharashtra State in India. Fully grown third instar larvae of C. saffranea were collected from decaying cats. The larvae were reared under laboratory conditions and adult flies freshly emerged from pupae were collected and identified by their morphological features.