Editing Calliphoridae (section)

==Description==

=== Characteristics ===
Calliphoridae adults are commonly shiny with metallic colouring, often with blue, green, or black thoraces and abdomens. [[Antenna (biology)|Antenna]]e are three-segmented and aristate. The [[Arista (insect anatomy)|arista]]e are plumose their entire length, and the second antennal segment is distinctly grooved. Members of Calliphoridae have branched Rs 2 veins, [[Schizophora|frontal suture]]s are present, and [[calypter]]s are well developed.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ali |first1=Hayder |url=https://uomustansiriyah.edu.iq/media/lectures/95/95_2024_04_01!09_44_43_AM.pdf |title = Entymology 2: Family Calliphoridae|website=uomustansiriyah.edu.iq |access-date=31 October 2024}}</ref>
The characteristics and [[Chaetotaxy|arrangements of hairlike bristles]] are used to differentiate among members of this family. All blowflies have bristles located on the [[Insect morphology#Legs|meron]]. Having two notopleural [[bristle]]s and a hindmost posthumeral bristle located lateral to presutural bristle are characteristics to look for when identifying this family.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

The thorax has the continuous dorsal suture across the middle, along with well-defined posterior calli. The postscutellum is absent or weakly developed. The costa is unbroken and the subcosta is apparent on the insect.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ces.csiro.au/biology/fly/fly.html |year=2004 |title=Anatomical Atlas of Flies |publisher=[[CSIRO]] |author=Anne Hastings, David Yeates & Joanna Hamilton |access-date=13 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118040549/http://www.ces.csiro.au/biology/fly/fly.html |archive-date=18 January 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nku.edu/~biosci/CoursesNDegree/ForensicFlyKey/families.htm |title=Biological Sciences: Northern Kentucky University |publisher=Nku.edu |date=2013-01-14 |access-date=2014-05-29 |archive-date=20 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920054523/http://www.nku.edu/~biosci/CoursesNDegree/ForensicFlyKey/families.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://aramel.free.fr/INSECTES15-4.shtml |title=INSECTES15-4 |publisher=Aramel.free.fr |access-date=2014-05-29}}</ref>

===Development===
Most species of blowflies studied thus far are [[Anautogeny|anautogenous]]; a female requires a substantial amount of protein to develop mature eggs within her ovaries (about 800&nbsp;μg per pair of ovaries in ''[[Phormia regina]]''). The current theory is that females visit carrion both for protein and egg laying, but this remains to be proven. Blowfly eggs, usually yellowish or white in color, are about 1.5&nbsp;mm × 0.4&nbsp;mm, and when laid, look like rice grains. While the female blowfly typically lays 150–200 eggs per batch, she is usually [[iteroparous]], laying around 2,000 eggs during the course of her life. The sex ratio of blowfly eggs is usually 50:50, but one exception is females from two species of the genus ''[[Chrysomya]]'' (''C. rufifacies'' and ''C. albiceps''), which are either arrhenogenic (laying only male offspring) or thelygenic (laying only female offspring).{{cn|date=August 2022}}

Hatching from an egg to the first larval stage takes about 8 hours to a day. [[Larva]]e have three stages of development ([[instar]]s); each stage is separated by a molting event. The instars are separable by examining the posterior spiracles, or openings to the breathing system.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smlc.asso.fr/smlc/dmla/entomologie/diaporama/images/08.jpg |title=diaporama image |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041227100737/http://www.smlc.asso.fr/smlc/dmla/entomologie/diaporama/images/08.jpg |archive-date=2004-12-27 |access-date=11 March 2014}}</ref> The larvae use [[proteolytic]] enzymes in their excreta (as well as mechanical grinding by mouth hooks) to break down proteins on the livestock or corpse on which they are feeding. Blowflies are [[poikilothermic]] – the rate at which they grow and develop is highly dependent on temperature and species. Under room temperature (about 20&nbsp;°C), the black blowfly ''[[Phormia regina]]'' can change from egg to pupa in 150–266 hours (six to 11 days). When the third larval stage is complete, it leaves the corpse and burrows into the ground to pupate, emerging as an adult 7–14 days later.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

===Food sources===
Adult blowflies are occasional [[pollinator]]s, being attracted to [[Carrion flower|flowers]] with strong [[odor]]s resembling [[Decomposition|rotting]] meat, such as the [[American pawpaw]] or [[dead horse arum]]. Little doubt remains that these flies use nectar as a source of [[carbohydrate]]s to fuel flight, but just how and when this happens is unknown. One study showed the visual stimulus a blowfly receives from its [[compound eye]]s is responsible for causing its legs to extend from its flight position and allow it to land on any surface.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Goodman |first=Lesley J. |year=1964 |title=The landing responses of insects. II. The electrical response of the compound eye of the fly, ''Lucilia sericata'', upon stimluation by moving objects and slow changes of light intensity |journal=[[Journal of Experimental Biology]] |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=403–415 |doi=10.1242/jeb.41.2.403 |url=http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/41/2/403.pdf}}</ref>

Larvae of most species are scavengers of carrion and dung, and most likely constitute the majority of the maggots found in such material, although they are not uncommonly found in close association with other dipterous larvae from the families [[Sarcophagidae]] and [[Muscidae]], and many other [[acalyptrate muscoid]] flies.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

===Predators===
Predators of blowflies include spiders,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Welch|first1=John B.|title=Predation by Spiders on Ground-Released Screwworm Flies, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in a Mountainous Area of Southern Mexico|journal=Journal of Arachnology|publisher=American Arachnological Society|location=Ithaca, New York|date=1993|volume=21|issue=1|pages=23–28|jstor=3705375}}</ref> beetles, frogs, and birds, including chickens.

In the Chihuahuan desert of Mexico, a fungus, ''[[Furia (fungus)|Furia vomitoriae]]'' {{Au|(Rozsypal) Humber (1989)}} (from the family of [[Entomophthoraceae]]) affects bluebottle flies. It forms masses of [[conidiophores]] erupting through the intersegmental areas (or clear bands) on the abdominal dorsum of the flies and eventually kills them.<ref name=Sanchez>{{cite journal |last1=Sanchez-Pena |first1=Sergio R. |title=Entomopathogens from two Chihuahuan desert localities in Mexico, Projects: Fall armyworm, ''Spodoptera frugiperda'', in north-eastern Mexico |journal=BioControl |date=April 2000 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=63–78 |doi=10.1023/A:1009915308907|s2cid=6876392 }}</ref>