Sarcophaga (Sarcorohdendorfia) praedatrix Walker

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 : 168

Sarcophaga (Sarcorohdendorfia) praedatrix Walker

(Figure 54a,b,c)

Sarcophaga praedatrix Walker, 1849

Sarcophaga tryoni Johnston and Tiegs, 1921 Sarcophaga queenslandae Parker, 1922

Morphological characters. Gena and occiput with setulae only yellow/white. Prescutellar acrostichal setae absent and apical scutellar setae present in both sexes. Proepisternum uniformly setulose, with setulae only yellow/white. Males with long setulae on the hind tibia. 1st and 2nd abdominal sternites with setulae only yellow/white. Body length 10–15 mm.

Geographical distribution. Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia)—AUSTRALASIAN/OCEANIAN.

Biology. Sarcophaga praedatrix , also referred to as Sarcophaga tryoni Johnston and Tiegs 1921 , is a common species throughout Australia. In Brisbane, larvae are not believed to survive the cooler months between June and August ( Johnston & Tiegs 1921). Sarcophaga praedatrix has been caught at decayed-carrion baits by KAM and has also been recorded by JFW in forensic cases in Australia.

Note that data on praedatrix in the literature may include the undescribed species listed here as ‘ Sarcophaga (Sarcorohdendorfia) sp_A sp. nov. (unnamed species near praedatrix )’.

Taxonomy. The larval instars were described by Cantrell (1981; referred to as Tricholioproctia tryoni ). DNA barcode sequences of S. praedatrix have been deposited in both GenBank and BOLD.