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?Sarcophaga sp.

Submitted by DREWETT on

Although I've been a member of Dipterists Forum for a number of years I've never had much time to look at flies.  Now I've semi-retired I'm starting to take a serious interest, but I'm an absolute beginner in the subject.

So, first of all, I am right in thinking this is a Sarcophaga species?  And secondly, are the creatures in the second picture the larvae?  I gather the young leave the body of the dead mother?

The fly was walking along my office windowsill yesterday and suddenly stopped.  When I put it in the pot (which is 2.5cm dia) it did show a few signs of life, but had trouble keeping upright and was obviously dying.  It died later in the afternoon.  Today there are 30 or so of the larvae in the pot too.

Comments

Yes, it's a female Sarcophaga. I think genus is as far as we can go. And the maggots certainly look like Sarcophaga, so I'd say you're right in thinking that they came from the female. If things go well, the female will lay her larvae in a suitable substrate, but if things don't work out, the larvae will leave their mother and find what they can.

Tony - Many thanks for your reply and interesting to hear about the behaviour.  Sorry about the pictures, but I couldn't get them to upload via the 'simple' method, so tried the other way instead.  Will try to resize properly next time!

 

John