Phaenicia (Lucilia) sericata (Meigen)
(Figure 5-54)
The green blow fly Phaeniciasericata causes cases of myiasis around the world. These flies commonly breed on carrion, but they can be attracted to sores or to soiled hair. These are a common cause of myiasis in sheep in certain parts of the world where sheep are raised, and human cases of infestation have occurred. Thus, species in Asia are though to be highly serious in that they are quite comfortable with living hosts, whereas in North America, the flies seem to prefer carrion, and these have been the maggots most commonly used in wound therapy. After the eggs are deposited on the wound or soiled hair, the larvae (Fig. 5-54) feed for 2 to 10 days before they drop to the ground where pupation occurs.
Cats have been reported parasitized by these facultative myiasis producers in Europe and the Americas. Dermal lesions were reported from a in Germany (Ribbeck et al., 1979), and two cases of dermal myiasis have been described from Austria (Hinaidy and Frey, 1984). One other cases of myiasis from Austria was perineal myiasis following diarrhea due to infectious peritonitis while another case was preputial myiasis (Hinaidy and Frey, 1984). A cat from Missouri was described as having a vaginal myiasis shourtly ater partutirion (Hall, 1979). Vignau and Arias (1997) and Mariluis (1994) present cases of dermal myiasis due to Phaeniciasericata from cats in Argentina.
REFERENCES:
Hall R D. 1979. The blow flies of Missouri: an annotated checklist (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Trans Missouri Acad Sci13:33 36.
Hinaidy H.K., Frey H. 1984. Weitere Fakultativmyiasis Falle bei Wirbeltieren in Osterreich. Wien Tierarztl Monatschr 71:237-238.
Mariluis J C. Schnack J A. Cerverizzo I. Quintana C. 1994. Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel, 1858) and Phaenicia sericata (Meigen, 1826) parasiting domestic animals in Buenos Aires and vicinities (Diptera, Calliphoridae). Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 89:139.
Ribbeck R., Schroder E., and Schumann H. 1979. Lucilia sericata Larven als Ereger von Wundmyiasis bei Hund und Katze. Veterinarmedizin 34:383-384.
Vignau M.L., Arias D.O. 1997. Myiasis cutaneo ulcerosas en pequenos animales. Parasitologia al Dia. 21:36 39.
Figure 5-54. The larva (maggot) of Lucilia.