Sarcophaga (Liopygia) ruficornis (Fabricus)

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 : 160

Sarcophaga (Liopygia) ruficornis (Fabricus)

(Figure 30a,b,c)

Musca ruficornis Fabricus, 1794

Morphological characters. Ground colour of male and female terminalia bright red or orange, with the 2nd and 3rd antennomeres at least partly yellow. Gena and occiput with setulae only yellow/white. Prescutellar acrostichal setae absent. Proepisternum bare. 1st and 2nd abdominal sternites with setulae only black in males but with setulae only yellow/white in females. Body length 10–15 mm.

Geographical distribution. Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia)—AUSTRALASIAN/OCEANIAN, AFROTROPICAL, NEARCTIC, NEOTROPICAL, ORIENTAL, PALAEARCTIC.

Biology. Sarcophaga ruficornis breeds in both faeces and carrion, and has been caught at baits of decayed carrion, rabbit, fish, liver and chicken ( Amoudi et al. 1994; Bänziger & Pape 2004; Das & Dasgupta 1982; Hanan 2010; Shazia et al. 2006). It has been reported to cause myiasis in dogs, horses, mules and leprosy patients ( Amoudi et al. 1994; Sreevatsa et al. 1990). It is also a documented parasite of the toad Bufo melanostictus ( Roy & Dasgupta 1977) .

Taxonomy. DNA barcode sequences of S. ruficornis have been deposited in both GenBank and BOLD.