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Martínez-Sánchez A, Ivorra T, Velásquez Y, Cerdá-Ortega L, Ibáñez C, Rojo S. Dietary and competition effects on life history attributes of Chrysomya megacephala and Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in south-west Europe. Int J Legal Med 2025:10.1007/s00414-025-03425-1. [PMID: 39847076 DOI: 10.1007/s00414-025-03425-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/15/2025] [Indexed: 01/24/2025]
Abstract
The range of the oriental latrine fly (Chrysomya megacephala) is currently expanding. It coexists with another blowfly with a similar ecology, the green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata), one of the most abundant species in carrion during warm months. It is essential to understand the influence of temperature, larval substrate type, and larval competition on the development rates of these necrophagous calliphorids to evaluate the role and the adaptation of C. megacephala in the ecosystems, and on the necrophagous Diptera community. Moreover, due to the forensic importance of both species, biological data are need for forensic purposes in south-west Europe. This study represents the first on the biology of C. megacephala in Europe, and of L. sericata in Spain. We performed a field experiment in Alicante province (south-east Spain) to analyse the monthly abundance of both species in natural conditions, and three lab rearing experiments involving both species to evaluate (i) development at constant temperatures, (ii) the growth of larvae and pupae on different substrates, and (iii) coexistence in pure and mixed cultures under controlled abiotic conditions. The results allowed us to analyse the biological differences between both species, and their effects on the forensic entomology application.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Martínez-Sánchez
- University of Alicante, Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, PO Box 99, Alicante, E-03080, Spain.
- Department Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, Faculty of Sciences III, University of Alicante, Carretera San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante, 03690, Spain.
| | - T Ivorra
- Universiti Malaya, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia
| | - Y Velásquez
- University of Alicante, Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, PO Box 99, Alicante, E-03080, Spain
| | - L Cerdá-Ortega
- University of Alicante, Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, PO Box 99, Alicante, E-03080, Spain
| | - C Ibáñez
- University of Alicante, Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, PO Box 99, Alicante, E-03080, Spain
| | - S Rojo
- University of Alicante, Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, PO Box 99, Alicante, E-03080, Spain
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Yoshida T, Aonuma H, Otsuka S, Ichimura H, Saiki E, Hashimoto K, Ote M, Matsumoto S, Iwadate K, Miyawaki T, Kanuka H. A human tissue-based assay identifies a novel carrion blowfly strain for maggot debridement therapy. Sci Rep 2022; 12:12191. [PMID: 35842442 PMCID: PMC9288425 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16253-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is a form of therapeutic wound treatment in which live fly larvae are used intentionally to debride necrotic tissues. MDT has been widely used to treat chronic wounds in humans or animals, such as diabetic foot ulcers. Larvae of a carrion blowfly, Lucilia sericata (green bottle fly), debride wounds by consuming necrotic tissue and removing pathogenic bacteria, promoting effective wound healing. Most medical L. sericata strains were initially collected from natural environments using animal meat as bait and reared on artificial protein-rich media or ground meat. It remains to be examined which strain would be more appropriate for MDT, whereas any method for evaluating the fly’s therapeutic potential in humans has not been available. A feeding assay was developed using minced human tissues obtained from surgical waste. To establish L. sericata strains highly eligible for MDT, carrion fly larvae were collected from 45 corpses subjected to forensic autopsy (such as decomposed bodies). Four corpse-derived L. sericata strains were obtained and evaluated using the feeding assay. One strain showed that its feeding activity was 1.4 times higher than the control strain used in conventional MDT. The body length of the adult fly of the corpse-derived strain was longer than the control, which was consistent with the observation that its cell size was enlarged. The human tissue-based assay developed in this study accurately evaluated the ability of fly larvae to debride necrotic wounds. The L. sericata strain newly established from human corpses harboring high feeding activity may offer a clinically significant improvement in MDT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takuma Yoshida
- Department of Tropical Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hiroka Aonuma
- Department of Tropical Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Saori Otsuka
- Department of Tropical Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hidetoshi Ichimura
- Department of Tropical Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Erisha Saiki
- Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Laboratory Animal Facilities, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kosei Hashimoto
- Department of Tropical Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Manabu Ote
- Department of Tropical Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.,Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Sari Matsumoto
- Department of Forensic Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kimiharu Iwadate
- Department of Forensic Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takeshi Miyawaki
- Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hirotaka Kanuka
- Department of Tropical Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. .,Center for Medical Entomology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
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