Calliphora latifrons Hough 1899

Stotelmyre, Lyle Magee, 2024, Blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of the Baja California Peninsula, Zootaxa 5468 (2), pp. 308-330 : 312-313

Calliphora latifrons Hough 1899

Calliphora latifrons Hough, 1897: 1853 nomen nudum.

Calliphora latifrons Hough, 1899b: 286 . Type locality: USA (Idaho, Moscow ).

Distribution: Highlands of northern Mexico northward to Alaska, eastward to Ontario, Canada.

Remarks: This is the most widespread member of the Calliphorini in the western United States. Recorded in 46 of the 58 California counties. C. latifrons breeds in the freshly killed carcasses of small animals such as smaller rodents and birds. The adults readily enter houses and may occur there in large numbers as a result of emergence from the bodies of poisoned or trap-killed mice. The variation in size is striking, a result, undoubtedly, of undersized individuals being produced by larval overcrowding and consequent shortage of food. This species has never been recorded in human or large animal myiasis, and, because of its small animal breeding preference, probably never will be. It may, however, readily contaminate food by mechanical transmission of pathogens.

Material examined: BAJA CALIFORNIA: Isla San Geronimo 11-iii-1953 Sefton Orca Expedition to Gulf, P.H. Arnaud ( CAS) ; Sierras San Pedro Martir trail from La Jolla to La Zanja 10-vi-1953 P.H. Arnaud Jr. ( CAS) ; Sierra San Pedro Martir 11-vi-1953 P.H. Arnaud Jr. ( CAS) ; Arr. Santo Domingo 5.7mi. E. Hamilton Ranch dam site 23- iv-1963 Leach & Arnaud ( CAS) ; 3.2 mi. S. Colonia Guerrero 24-27-iv-1963, H.B. Leach & P.H. Arnaud Jr. ( CAS) ; 7 mi. W. Las Arrastras de Arricola 14-xi-1967 Don Patterson ( CAS) ; 5.9 mi. E. San Matias 4 Apr 1981 Faulkner, Brown ( SDM) ; Baja Mex. Santa Ines 20 Mar 1986, 30 Mar 1986 R. Parmenter ( LACM) ; Mx-BC Ensenada , coastal sand dunes, bait trap R. norvegicus 8–15 Nov 2018 L Stotelmyre ( SDM); (literature review) : El Mogor, Punta Colonet, Sierra Juarez , Sierra San Pedro Martir, Santa Catarina, Cerro Santo Tomas, Rio Hardy , San Felipe, Punta Final, representative voucher specimens 2017–19 Ketzaly Munguia-Ortega ( ECSR) ; BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR: Mex. Guadalupe Island, northwest Anchorage ii-14-1973 J.D. Pinto ( UCR)

San Vicente 20 Mar 1986 R. Parmenter ( LACM) Mx-BCS San Ignacio, bait trap R. norvegicus 10–16 Jan 2019 L Stotelmyre ( SDM) .