Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Suborder: Brachycera
Infraorder: Muscomorpha
Subsection: Calyptratae
Superfamily: Oestroidea
Family: Calliphoridae
Subfamily: Calliphorinae
Genus: Calliphora
Species: C. vicina
Binomial name Calliphora vicina
Common name: Bluebottle, European blowfly.
C. vicina was introduced and is known as a blue bottle fly because of the metallic blue-grey colouration of its thorax and abdomen. The blue bottle fly is approximately 10-11 mm in length.
C. vicina goes through five generations in a year at a threshold temperature of 27° C (81° F). A female C. vicina can lay up to 300 eggs, on fresh carrion or on open wounds. The larvae go through three instar stages. The first instar hatches in approximately 24 hours after the eggs are laid. It goes through its second instar in 20 hours and its third instar in 48 hours. Under favourable conditions, the larvae feed for about three to four days. When the larvae complete their development, they disperse to find an adequate place to pupate. The C. vicina pupa stage lasts about 11 days. At 27° C, C. vicina’s life cycle lasts approximately 18 days. Climatic factors, such as temperature, are known to influence egg-laying and development of instar-larvae. In warmer weather, the life cycle can last a little less, and in cooler temperatures, the life cycle takes a little longer. Knowing the duration between the three instars and pupa stage and post-feeding larval dispersal can be useful to determine the postmortem interval in a criminal case.
Life cycle of a fly
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
