Anoxia tolerance of Diptera: Calliphoridae Maggots

The Calliphoridae is one of the most  studied families in forensic science. This family is often found at human death investigations and plays a crucial role in estimating postmortem interval (PMI). Larvae, while feeding on a carcass, will move  into an orifice as they feed, going from oxygen rich, nitrogen poor to oxygen poor, nitrogen rich conditions. Since little is understood about how hypoxic conditions affect larval development, a study was conducted to show the direct effects anoxic conditions can have on the development of larval blow files.

. Four species of 3^rd stage blow fly maggots were used:  Lucilia sericata, Calliphora vicina, Cochliomyia macellaria, and Phormia regina.   Experiments were conducted  at four temperatures: 20 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C. One maggot was put in a vial with N gas streamed until the water was displaced in the vial. Control vials had no added gas. Each series was replicated eight times. Vials were checked every hour for a total of six hours.

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