Protocalliphora

Protocalliphora or bird blowflies are a blow fly genus containing many species which are obligate parasites of birds.[3] Eggs are laid in bird nests. After hatching, the larvae suck the blood of nestlings. They sometimes feed inside the nostrils of nestling birds and destroy the tissue at the base leading to reduced growth of the upper mandible and the young growing with "shovel-beaks".[4] The species overwinter as adults.[5]

Protocalliphora
Protocalliphora azurea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Calliphoridae
Subfamily: Chrysomyinae
Genus: Protocalliphora
Hough, 1899[1]
Type species
Musca azurea[2]
Fallén, 1817

The genus is affected by Wolbachia bacteria and it has been suggested that horizontal gene transfer may have led to the difficulty in separating species of Protocalliphora through DNA barcoding, with several species possessing identical mtDNA Cytochrome oxidase I sequences.[6]

References
  1. Hough, Garry de N. (1899). "Some North American genera of the dipterous group, Calliphorinae Girschner". Entomological News. American Entomological Society. 10: 62–66. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  2. Sabrosky, C. W. (1989). "Protocalliphora Hough 1899 (Insecta, Diptera) and its type species Musca azurea Fallén 1817: proposed conservation of usage by designation of a replacement lectotype". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 46: 126–129. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.508.
  3. Sabrosky, Curtis W.; Bennett, Gordon F.; Whitworth, Terry L. (1989). Bird blow-flies (Protocalliphora) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in North America with Notes on the Palearctic Species. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 1–311. ISBN 9780874748659. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. McClure, H. Elliott (1962). "Ten Years and 10,000 Birds (Concluded)". Bird-Banding. 33 (2): 69–84. doi:10.2307/4510924. JSTOR 4510924.
  5. Stiner, Frederic M. (1969). "Overwintering by Protocalliphora metallica (Diptera: Calliphoridae)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 62 (5): 1205–1206. doi:10.1093/aesa/62.5.1205a.
  6. Whitworth, T.L; Dawson, R.D; Magalon, H.; Baudry, E. (2007). "DNA barcoding cannot reliably identify species of the blowfly genus Protocalliphora (Diptera: Calliphoridae)". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 274 (1619): 1731–1739. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0062. PMC 2493573. PMID 2493573.
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