Green bottle fly
Lucilia coeruleiviridis, formerly Phaenecia coeruleiviridis, is commonly known as a green bottle fly, because of its metallic blue-green thorax and abdomen. L. coeruleiviridis was first discovered by French entomologist Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart in 1855. It belongs to the family Calliphoridae and is one of many forensically important Diptera, as it is often found on decaying substances. L. coeruleiviridis is one of the most ubiquitous blow fly species in the southeastern United States, particularly in the spring and fall months.
There is a fable that says Lucilia species can predict death and show up before it occurs. This idea may have originated much in the same way the theory of Spontaneous Generation came about around two millennia ago, based on how Calliphorids are typically the first insects to arrive on a carcass. The theory was a supposed process that life would come from sources other than seeds or parents. Understanding this makes understanding how this cultural fable may have come about much easier.
Lucilia coeruleiviridis has a Nearctic distribution, which means; of, relating to, or being the biogeographic subregion that includes Greenland and North America north of Tropical Mexico and is very ubiquitous in the southern United States. This particular blowfly is probably even the most preponderate of all species of blowflies in the southeastern United States during the spring and fall and will remain active during mild winters.
Many of the species of major connotation are found in three families; Calliphoridae (blow flies), which includes Lucilia coeruleiviridis, Muscidae (house flies) and Sarcophagidae (flesh flies). Some species of Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae are known to be parasitic, however, the prevailing rule for carrion feeding species is scavenging and such is true with Lucilia coeruleiviridis. Lucilia coeruleiviridis is a warm weather fly whose perfect temperature is between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit (23-29 degrees Celsius). The females of this species are heavily attracted to flesh and are potential mechanical vectors.
Typically the blowfly, such as Lucilia coeruleiviridis, will deposit their eggs by way of the female's abdomen, which extends to form an ovipositor, in areas around accessible natural body openings such as eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth, anus and genitals or near wounds. The reason that these maggot mass formations are important is because it can indicate premortem or perimortem trauma. The life cycle of Lucilia coeruleiviridis has four stages of development. Calliphorids are necrophagous so the eggs are dispatched on rotting animal remains and generally hatch after roughly twelve hours. The larvae will then accumulate and nourish on the decomposing carcass. They will then undergo three larval stages (instars), which on average will take eleven to twenty days, if the ambient temperature is eighty degrees Fahrenheit. In the fourth stage, the larvae leave the food source and will pupate. The pupal stage can last from six to twelve days. A single female fly can lay in upwards of two thousand eggs in its life.
