Morphology and duration of the post-embryonary development of Chrysomya megacephala (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in laboratory conditions. The morphology and developmental time of the post-embryonic stage of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) reared in laboratory on a beef diet, is described and compared to those of other blow-flies species. The parameters analyzed were the duration of the larval stages and the morphology. Larvae were fixed and preserved at 2 hours intervals, from larval eclosion until the 50th hour of life, in order to determine the duration of each stage. The total period of larval development in C. megacephala was 98 hours and their mean length was 15.51 mm. This species presents a necrobiontophagous behavior and has sanitary and medico-legal importance, being used for estimating postmortem interval in criminal investigations.
Blow Flies; Insect Larvae; Comparative Morphology; Oestroidea; Forensic Entomology
