A species widely distributed over the whole of Europe, occurring especially in Russia (Mohilew); the presence of the larvæ in man was first observed by Wohlfahrt (1768). The larvæ settle in the pharynx, in the nose, the aural meatus, the conjunctiva, and in other regions of the human body; they also attack domestic animals and birds. As Portschinsky has shown, they cause severe inflammations, hæmorrhages and suppurations in the organs in which they occur; children are especially attacked. A number of cases have been observed also in Central and Western Europe. [The fly has a light grey abdomen with shiny black spots which do not change their shape and appearance according to the angle in which the fly is viewed.—F. V. T.]
(Wohlfahrt: “Observ. de vermibus per nares excretis,” Halæ, 1768; Nov. Act. Acad. Caes. Nat. curios., 1770, iv, p. 277. Gerstäcker in: Sitzungsb. Ges. nat. Frde. Berl., 1875, p. 108. Portschinsky in: Horæ soc. entom. ross., 1875, 1884, p. 123. Laboulbène in: Ann. Soc. ent. France, 1883 (6), iii; Bull., p. xcii. Leon in: Bull. Soc. des Méd. et Nat. de Jassy, 1905, xix, p. i. Freund, L., in: Verh. Ges. deutsch. Naturf. u. Ärzte, Homburg (1902), 1902, ii, 2, p. 450, and other authors.) [Probably most cases of attack in Europe are due to this species.—F. V. T.]
The above cited do not exhaust the number of observations of diptera larvæ parasitic in man; there are yet to be mentioned the larvæ of S. hæmorrhoidalis, S. hæmatodes (of G. Joseph), those of S. ruficornis (excitants of a cutaneous myiasis in the East Indies), those of species of Eristalis (of Hanby and others), and those of Phora rufipes (of Kahl, of Warsaw, and others). In many cases the determination of the diptera larvæ has been omitted (or must be omitted); such is the case with diptera larvæ in the eye (Schultz-Zehden in: Berl. klin. Wochenschr., 1906, p. 286. Ollendorf in: Med. Korrespondenzbl. d. würt. ärtzl. Landesver., 1904, p. 1017. Kayser in: Klin. Monatsbl. f. Augenheilkunde, 1905, xliii, i, p. 205. Ewetzky and v. Kennel in: Zeitschr. f. Augenheilkunde, 1904, xii, p. 337, and other cases). Austen records several cases of myiasis due to Sarcophaga (vide Trans. Soc. Trop. Med. and Hyg., 1910, iii, No. 6).
The larvæ of African Muscidæ have now become of greater interest; like several Oestrid larvæ they live normally in the skin of mammals, but also attack man. The knowledge of these species is certainly very insufficient, but this is not likely to be the case much longer, as medical men practising in the Colonies are giving their attention to these parasites. At the present time four distinct forms are recognized according to Gedoelst.[413]
Sarcophaga chrysotoma, Wied.
[This species is recorded as attacking human beings at New Amsterdam, British Guiana. The fly is 15 mm. long, has a golden-coloured face, three broad black thoracic stripes and ochraceous buff anal segments. It was bred from larvæ obtained by Dr. Roland from a sore on a girl’s foot. It is known to occur in the Brazils and the West Indies. Another species was also bred which Austen was unable to identify.—F. V. T.]
Sarcophaga plinthopyga, Wied.
[This and other species of Sarcophaga are called “yaw flies” in Dominica, as they are believed to be concerned in the dissemination of frambœsia or yaws (Nicholls) (vide Austen, Trans. Soc. Trop. Med. and Hyg., 1910, iii, p. 239).—F. V. T.]
