Anoxia tolerance of Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) maggots

Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is one of the most commonly studied species in forensic science. This species is often found at human death investigations and plays a crucial role in estimating postmortem interval (PMI). Lucilia sericata larvae will, while feeding on a carcass, move further into an orifice as they feed. The conditions they encounter go from oxygen rich and nitrogen poor to oxygen poor and nitrogen rich. It is unknown how these anoxic conditions affect larval growth and development.

This study was conducted to show the direct effects anoxic conditions can have on the development of larval blow files.  Experiments were conducted over three temperatures: 17.5 °C, 25 °C, and 32.5 °C and four larval stages: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 3^rd-migratory. One maggot was put in a vial with N gas streamed for five minutes and closed. Control vials had no added gas. Each series was replicated four times. Vials were checked every three hours until the maggots were no longer moving.

Our results establish maggots in anoxic conditions show a decrease in activity and die sooner than maggots in oxygen. These results represent part of a larger series of studies documenting and modeling blow fly maggot respiration.