page_title: Calliphora vomitoria
section_title: Forensics
hierarchical_section_title: Calliphora vomitoria / Interaction with humans / Forensics
caption_attribution_description: English: Cutaneous myiasis in the neck of a human Español: Lesión cutanéa ocasionada por miasis en la región cervical de una mujer
context_page_description: Calliphora vomitoria, known as the blue bottle fly, orange-bearded blue bottle, or bottlebee is a species of blow fly, a species in the family Calliphoridae. Calliphora vomitoria is the type species of the genus Calliphora. It is common throughout many continents including Europe, Americas, and Africa. They are fairly large flies, nearly twice the size of the housefly. They can be easily identified by their shiny, blue bodies.
  While adult flies feed on nectar, females deposit their eggs on rotting corpses, making them important forensic insects, as their eggs and timing of oviposition can be used to estimate time of death.
context_section_description: These flies are among the most important insect evidence in forensic science, specifically for obtaining time of colonization (TOC) and post mortem interval (PMI). Calliphora species are the most important in temperate regions because of their growth rate in accordance to temperature. By knowing the temperature, the amount of time since the eggs were laid can be estimated. In addition, C. vomitoria has higher threshold temperature for growth than many species; likewise, it is present in many regions. There is a limit to their usage, though, as few species can survive in cold temperatures; most cannot continue development unless it is warmer than roughly 35 ° F (roughly 2 °C).
  Degradation of carcasses can be divided into six separate stages: stage of decomposition, fresh stage, bloated stage, active decay stage, advanced decay stage, and remains stage. Adult C. vomitoria first starts to appear at carcasses during the bloated stage, followed by larvae 1 to 3 days after. During the active decay stage, blow fly larvae population reaches its peak.
  In buried corpses, information of time since burial and how the body was kept (above/below ground before burial) can also be collected through the identification of C. vomitoria. The study of these flies, however, is limited to areas where entomologists are readily available, as life histories can differ in separate regions. These life histories differ in subtle ways due to differences in climate such as temperature and elevation. These restrictions should be thus considered so the proper time of colonization (TOC) and post mortem interval (PMI) can be established.
  This bluebottle fly can also cause human or animal myiasis (parasitization in a living individual). Forensic scientists sometimes identify it in the course of their work, such as in one case of an autopsy of a neglected child.
caption: Myiasis in a human neck
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