Distribution

AUSTRALASIAN/OCEANIAN � (Australia � Australian Capital Territory, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia), ORIENTAL, PALAEARCTIC.

Biology

Sarcophaga peregrina has been observed to breed in carrion, and has been commonly found attracted to faeces, garbage and fish baits (Das and Dasgupta, 1982; B�nziger and Pape 2004; P�rez-Moreno et al., 2006). This species has also been documented in cases of human oral and nasal myiasis (Kanimura and Arakawa, 1986). Studies have documented S. peregrina as an occasional parasite of earthworms and the locust Chortoicetes terminifera, along with being a facultative predator of lepidopteran pupae (Xue et al., 2011).

Taxonomy

This species is the only Australian representative of the subgenus Boettcherisca. The larval instars and puparium were described by Cantrell (1981; referred to as Boettcherisca peregrina). DNA barcode sequences of S. peregrina have been deposited in both GenBank and BOLD.

References

B�nziger, H., and Pape, T. (2004) Flowers, faeces and cadavers: natural feeding and laying habits of flesh flies in Thailand (Diptera: Sarcophagidae, Sarcophaga spp.). Journal of Natural History 38, 1677-1694.

Cantrell, B.K. (1981) The immature stages of some Australian Sarcophaginae (Diptera: Sarcophagidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 20, 237-248.

Das, S.K., and Dasgupta, B. (1982) Seasonal occurance of blow-flies and flesh-flies in Calcutta Oriental Insects 16(1), 119-128.

Kanimura, K., and Arakawa, R. (1986) A case report on nasal myiasis due to the flesh fly Boettcherisca peregrina. Japanese Journal of Sanitary Zoology 37(2), 163-164.

P�rez-Moreno, S., Marcos-Garc�a, M.A., and Rojo, S. (2006) Comparative morphology of early stages of two Mediterranean Sarcophaga Meigen, 1826 (Diptera; Sarcophagidae) and a review of the feeding habits of Palaearctic species. Micron 37(2), 169-179.

Robinaeu-Desvoidy, J.B. Essai sur les myodaires. M�moires Pr�sent�s par divers Savants � l�Acad�mie. Royal des Sciences l�Institut de France 2, 1�813.

Xue, W.-Q., Verves, Y.G., and Du, J. (2011) A review of subtribe Boettcheriscina Verves 1990 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), with descriptions of a new species and genus from China. Annales de la Soci�t� Entomologique de France 47(3-4), 303-329.