Sarcophaga (Boettcherisca) peregrina (Robineau-Desvoidy)

Dowton, Mark & Pape, Thomas, 2013, A key to the Australian Sarcophagidae (Diptera) with special emphasis on Sarcophaga (sensu lato), Zootaxa 3680 (1), pp. 148-189 : 156-157

Sarcophaga (Boettcherisca) peregrina (Robineau-Desvoidy)

(Figure 19a,b,c)

Myophora peregrina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 Morphological characters. Gena with setulae only or mostly black. Occiput with at least one row of black setulae behind the ocular setae, with setulae only yellow/white ventrally. Prescutellar acrostichal setae present. Proepisternum not uniformly setulose, with only a few black setulae. 1st and 2nd abdominal sternites with short setulae in females. Body length 5–10 mm.

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

Biology. Sarcophaga peregrina has been observed to breed in carrion, and has been commonly found attracted to faeces, garbage and fish baits ( Bänziger & Pape 2004; Das & Dasgupta 1982; Pérez-Moreno et al. 2006). This species has also been documented in cases of human oral and nasal myiasis ( Kanimura & Arakawa 1986; Lee 1968). 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.