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Piophilidae
The Piophilidae are a Family (biology), family of "true flies", in the Order (biology), order Diptera. The so-called cheese flies are the best-known members, but most species of the Piophilidae are scavengers in animal products, carrion, and fungi. They may accordingly be important in forensic entomology and medical entomology. For a fly maggot, the larvae of many species have an unusually well-developed ability to leap when alarmed or when abandoning their larval food to pupate; they accordingly may be known as cheese skippers or other kinds of skippers according to their food source. Overview The most notorious member of the family is the cheese fly, ''Piophila casei''; it is cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan, and a typical member of the family. It is a small species, about long. The fly's larvae infest cured meats, smoked or salted fish, cheeses, and carrion. The mature larva is about long and is sometimes called the cheese skipper because of its leaping ability - when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piophila Casei
The cheese fly, cheese skipper, or ham skipper (''Piophila casei'') is a species of fly from the family Piophilidae whose Maggot, larvae are known to infestation, infest cured meats, smoked or salted fish, cheeses and carrion. On the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island of Sardinia, the larvae are intentionally introduced into pecorino sardo cheese to produce the characteristic ''casu martzu''. If consumed by humans, the larvae have a chance to survive in the intestine, causing enteric myiasis, though no such cases have been linked to ''casu martzu'' dishes. The larvae may also carry harmful microorganisms that, when consumed, could cause infections. Description Adult male cheese flies are usually long, with females slightly larger at long. The body is primarily a metallic black bronze in color, with two pale yellow Iridescence, iridescent wings that lie flat upon the fly's Abdomen (insect anatomy), abdomen when at rest. The head has short Antenna (biology), antennae and red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prochyliza Xanthostoma
''Prochyliza xanthostoma'', the waltzing fly, is a species of carrion-feeding cheese skipper, insects in the family Piophilidae and the order Diptera. ''P. xanthostoma'' is a member of the genus Prochyliza, which contains eleven species. The adult flies are found through North America and are brown-bodied, with orange and black coloring. Mating occurs on animal carcasses and male perform mating rituals; females engage in ejaculate feeding. The waltzing fly is known for its exaggerated sexual dimorphism and has thus become a prominent model for sexual dimorphism and larval behavior. These organisms are known as cheese skippers because when startled, the larvae (which often infest cured meats and cheese) can leap several inches into the air. ''P. xanthostoma'' is an important model organism for sexual selection, larval behavior, and adult reproductive success and survivability. Description The adult waltzing flies are narrow, brown-bodied with legs that are orange medial to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheese Fly
The cheese fly, cheese skipper, or ham skipper (''Piophila casei'') is a species of fly from the family Piophilidae whose larvae are known to infest cured meats, smoked or salted fish, cheeses and carrion. On the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, the larvae are intentionally introduced into pecorino sardo cheese to produce the characteristic '' casu martzu''. If consumed by humans, the larvae have a chance to survive in the intestine, causing enteric myiasis, though no such cases have been linked to ''casu martzu'' dishes. The larvae may also carry harmful microorganisms that, when consumed, could cause infections. Description Adult male cheese flies are usually long, with females slightly larger at long. The body is primarily a metallic black bronze in color, with two pale yellow iridescent wings that lie flat upon the fly's abdomen when at rest. The head has short antennae and red compound eyes, with yellow patches on the lower face. The legs are yellow-brown and are cove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protopiophila Litigata
''Protopiophila litigata'', also known as the antler fly, is a small species of fly in the family Piophilidae. It is native to North America. Range Antler flies are found in Canada, and range from Newfoundland west to Alberta. The species was originally described from Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. Ecology The antler fly breeds on discarded antlers of moose and other deer. As adaptations to such a scarce and scattered resource, they have several unusual behaviour patterns. For one thing, the males are astonishingly bellicose; the specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ... ''litigata'' reflects the fact — in context it means "aggressive", as in the English word "litigious". On discarded antlers, the males form complex, highly structured aggreg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forensic Entomology
Forensic entomology is a branch of applied entomology that uses insects and other arthropods as a basis for legal evidence. Insects may be found on cadavers or elsewhere around crime scenes in the interest of forensic science. Forensic entomology is also used in cases of neglect and abuse of a property, as well as subjects of a toxicology analysis to detect drugs and incidents of food contamination. Therefore, forensic entomology is divided into three subfields: medico-legal/medico-criminal entomology, urban, and stored-product. The field revolves around studying the types of insects commonly found in and on the place of interest (such as cadavers), their life cycles, their presence in different environments, and how insect assemblages change with the progression of decomposition (the process of "succession"). Insect assemblages can help approximate a body's primary location, as some insects are unique to specific areas. In medico-criminal cases, the primary goal is ofte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diptera
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced mechanosensory organs known as halteres, which act as high-speed sensors of rotational movement and allow dipterans to perform advanced aerobatics. Diptera is a large order containing more than 150,000 species including horse-flies, crane flies, hoverflies, mosquitoes and others. Flies have a mobile head, with a pair of large compound eyes, and mouthparts designed for piercing and sucking (mosquitoes, black flies and robber flies), or for lapping and sucking in the other groups. Their wing arrangement gives them great manoeuvrability in flight, and claws and pads on their feet enable them to cling to smooth surfaces. Flies undergo complete metamorphosis; the eggs are often laid on the larval food-source and the larvae, which lack true ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casu Marzu
(; ), sometimes spelled ''casu marzu'', and also called ''casu modde'', ''casu cundídu'' and ''casu fràzigu'' in Sardinian, is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese that contains live insect larvae (maggots). Derived from pecorino, ''casu martzu'' goes beyond typical fermentation to a stage of decomposition, brought about by the digestive action of the larvae of the cheese fly of the Piophilidae family. These larvae are deliberately introduced to the cheese, promoting an advanced level of fermentation and breaking down of the cheese's fats. The texture of the cheese becomes very soft, with some liquid (called ''làgrima'', Sardinian for "teardrop") seeping out. The larvae themselves appear as translucent white worms, roughly long. When consumed, the larvae can possibly survive in the intestine, causing enteric pseudomyiasis; however, no cases have been linked to the cheese.Petroni"Casu marzu: The world’s ‘most dangerous’ cheese" ''CNN Travel'', 18 March 202 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, dioecious species, which consist of most animals and some plants. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, color, markings, or behavioral or cognitive traits. Male-male reproductive competition has evolved a diverse array of sexually dimorphic traits. Aggressive utility traits such as "battle" teeth and blunt heads reinforced as battering rams are used as weapons in aggressive interactions between rivals. Passive displays such as ornamental feathering or song-calling have also evolved mainly through sexual selection. These differences may be subtle or exaggerated and may be subjected to sexual selection and natural selection. The opposite of dimorphism is ''monomorphism'', when both biological sexes are phenotype, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Territory (animal)
In ethology, territory is the sociographical area that an animal consistently defends against conspecificity, conspecific competition (biology), competition (or, occasionally, against animals of other species) using agonistic behaviors or (less commonly) real physical aggression. Animals that actively defend territories in this way are referred to as being territorial or displaying territorialism. Territoriality is only shown by a minority of species. More commonly, an individual or a group of animals occupies an area that it habitually uses but does not necessarily defend; this is called its home range. The home ranges of different groups of animals often overlap, and in these overlap areas the groups tend to avoid each other rather than seeking to confront and expel each other. Within the home range there may be a ''core area'' that no other individual group uses, but, again, this is as a result of avoidance. Function The ultimate function of animals inhabiting and defendin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aggregation (ethology)
{{unreferenced, date=July 2013 In ethology, an aggregation is any form of gathering of Organism, organisms and the process of coming together. In some forms groups of unrelated species might form, in which interaction between members of the aggregation might be minimal; for example herds of grazing zebra and Antelope, antelopes might combine, both the better to observe the approach of Predation, predators, and to improve the odds of escape in the event of attack by predators. Sometimes there might be some interaction, such as mixed flocks of birds that observe each other's foraging behaviour in searching for food. Sometimes there might be quite orderly common action, such as the queuing up for a resource; for example different species of fishes may aggregate around a cleaning station where Wrasse#Cleaner wrasse, cleaner wrasse and cleaner shrimp are active, more or less taking turns for attention. Such aggregations, where there is no particular association of species or sizes, may b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, changes in the number of body segments or head width. After shedding their exoskeleton (moulting), the juvenile arthropods continue in their life cycle until they either pupate or moult again. The instar period of growth is fixed; however, in some insects, like the salvinia stem-borer moth, the number of instars depends on early larval nutrition. Some arthropods can continue to moult after sexual maturity, but the stages between these subsequent moults are generally not called instars. For most insect species, an ''instar'' is the developmental stage of the larval forms of holometabolous (complete metamorphism) or ny ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic trait or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual organism, that is maintained and has evolved through natural selection. Historically, adaptation has been described from the time of the ancient Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Aristotle. In 18th and 19th-century natural theology, adaptation was taken as evidence for the existence of a deity. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace proposed instead that it was explained by natural selection. Adaptation is related to biological fitness, which governs the rate of evolution as measured by changes in allele frequencies. Often, two or more species co-adapt and co-evolve as they develop adaptations tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
