Lucilia eximia

(Wiedemann, 1819)

green bottle fly

Lucilia eximia is a green bottle fly in the Calliphoridae, distributed throughout the Neotropics from northern Mexico to southern South America. The is a significant forensic indicator used to estimate minimum postmortem intervals, with well-documented intra-puparial development stages and thermal accumulation requirements. Laboratory studies indicate require both sugar and protein sources for optimal longevity, with water deprivation severely reducing survival. The species colonizes animal remains in urban environments exposed to sunlight.

Lucilia eximia by (c) Francisco Farriols Sarabia, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Francisco Farriols Sarabia. Used under a CC-BY license.

Lucilia eximia by Terry Whitworth. Used under a Copyrighted free use license.

Pronunciation

How to pronounce Lucilia eximia: /lʊˈsɪliə ɛɡˈzɪmiə/

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Habitat

Urban environments, particularly animal remains exposed to sunlight. Laboratory rearing successful at 25.46±1.21°C, 93.31±2.41% relative humidity, with 12:12 light:dark and vermiculite substrate for .

Distribution

Neotropical region, ranging from northern Mexico to southern South America. Documented in Rica, Colombia (Florencia, Caquetá), and Brazil (widespread across states including AC, AM, AP, BA, CE, DF, ES, GO, MA, MG, MS, MT, PA, PB, PE, PR, RJ, RN, RO, RR, RS, SC, SP, TO). Also present in Galápagos Islands.

Diet

Necrophagous. Larvae feed on animal remains and carcasses. require sugar and protein sources for optimal longevity; protein deprivation reduces survival compared to sugar-only diets.

Life Cycle

Complete with documented intra-puparial development. Pre-pupa stage lasts 80±1.5 hours, involving larval contraction, cephalic retraction into second segment, segment invagination (12th into 11th continuing to 8th into 7th), barrel shape formation, intestine emptying, and 25.53% length reduction. Intra-puparial development totals 302±3.81 hours: larva-pupa (23±1.08 h), cryptocephalic pupa (5±0.53 h), phanerocephalic pupa (92±1.94 h), with transparent (125±2.15 h), yellow eyes (23±0.89 h), pink eyes (14±0.73 h), and red eyes (20±0.60 h). Pharate adult completely formed at 296 hours; adult at 302±3.81 h. Total requires 7,236.50 accumulated degree hours.

Behavior

Post-feeding larvae stop feeding, become pink, leave carcass to find substrate, and remain active for approximately 6 hours before burrowing.

Ecological Role

Forensic for estimating postmortem interval in medicolegal investigations. Contributes to decomposition of animal remains in urban environments. characterized by -dependent and survival parameters predicting one-point equilibrium for immatures.

Human Relevance

Primary forensic importance as a biological indicator for postmortem interval estimation. Used in investigations throughout Central and South America. Laboratory studies on longevity under resource deprivation conditions inform time-since- estimates in enclosed environments.