European Flesh Fly

• It does not lay eggs: it is larviparous, depositing already-hatched larvae straight onto the carrion, which gives it a head start of hours over the flies that lay eggs.
• In forensic entomology that trait is useful, because its presence and stage of development allow the time elapsed since death to be narrowed down.
• The chequerboard on the abdomen is not a fixed pigment: it shifts in tone according to the observer's position, an effect of microstructures in the cuticle.
• It does not lay eggs: it gives birth to live larvae. The eggs hatch inside the female and she deposits first-instar larvae directly onto the substrate, which gives them an advantage over the flies that lay eggs.
• That strategy lets it arrive late at a carcass and still compete, because its larvae start off several hours ahead.
• It is a key species in forensic entomology: the succession of species that colonise a corpse, and the developmental stage of their larvae, make it possible to estimate the post-mortem interval, and the sarcophagids are a regular part of that sequence.
• It can be identified by the thorax with three longitudinal black bands and the abdomen with a grey-and-black chequerboard that shifts in tone with the angle of the light.
• Identification to species level within the genus is very difficult and usually requires examination of the male genitalia, a real problem for forensic application.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Rural and urban areas of Europe, around carrion and dung

Sexual maturity

The adults are powerful fliers and among the first to reach a corpse, sometimes within minutes of death

Gestation / incubation

The eggs hatch inside the female's uterus; the larvae feed for about four days and go through three instars before pupating; the cycle from larviposition to adult can be completed in two weeks

Litter / clutch size

A larviparous species: the female retains the eggs in a two-lobed uterine pouch and deposits live first-instar larvae; within the family 30 to 200 larvae per female are reported

Sources consulted: Universidad de Florida, Featured Creatures; Amendt et al. (2011), Forensic Entomology; Natural History Museum de Londres; ScienceDirect, ficha Sarcophaga; ficha de la familia Sarcophagidae; Fichas de biologia de Sarcophagidae; Ficha de especie de Sarcophaga carnaria

Best time: The adults come to decaying meat and droppings; the larvae of this species, unlike most of the genus, feed mainly on earthworms