Diversity and synanthropy of Calliphoridae (Diptera) in the region of Rio Claro, SP, Brazil.

Dipteran blowflies (Calliphoridae) are of great medical and hygienic importance as vectors of pathogens and as parasites of living and dead tissue, and their association with carrion allows their use in forensic entomology. The objective of this study was to determine the synanthropic index of adult Calliphoridae (Diptera) collected in Rio Claro, São Paulo. Sampling occurred between September 2009 and August 2010.

[Bilateral anomaly in the style of Sciopemyia sordellii (Shannon & Del Ponte) (Diptera, Psychodidae)].

This paper presents a male specimen of Sciopemyia sordellii with a rare bilateral anomaly, consisting in eight spines in a style and five in the other. Tis species has four spines in each style as its normal number. The specimen was captured using a CDC light trap, in a forested area in the State Park "Floresta Estadual Edmundo Navarro de Andrade", in May 2004, located in the city of Rio Claro, São Paulo State, Brazil.

Postfeeding radial dispersal in larvae of Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera: Calliphoridae): implications for forensic entomology.

Blowflies utilize discrete and ephemeral breeding sites for larval nutrition. After the exhaustion of food, larvae begin dispersing in search of sites to pupate or additional food sources, a process referred as postfeeding larval dispersal. Some of the most important aspects of this process were investigated in the blowfly Chrysomya albiceps, employing a circular arena to allow radial dispersion of larvae from the center.