Piophila Explained

Piophila is a genus of small flies which includes the species known as the cheese fly. Both Piophila species feed on carrion, including human corpses.^{[1] [2]}

Description

Piophila are small dark flies with unmarked wings. The setulae (fine hairs) on the thorax are confined to three distinct rows.^[3]

Species

There are two species in the genus Piophila:^[4]

• Piophila casei (Linnaeus, 1758), the cheese fly
• Piophila megastigmata J. McAlpine, 1978

Notes and References

1. Prado e Castro. Catarina . Cunha . Eugénia. Serrano . Artur. García . María Dolores . 2012 . Piophila megastigmata (Diptera: Piophilidae): First records on human corpses . Forensic Science International . 214 . 23–26 .
2. Rochefort. Sabrina. Giroux. Marjolaine. Savage. Jade. Wheeler. Terry A. . 2015. Key to Forensically Important Piophilidae (Diptera) in the Nearctic Region . Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification . 27. 1–37 .
3. McAlpine . J.F. . 1977 . A revised classification of the Piophilidae, including 'Neottiophilidae' and 'Thyreophoridae' (Diptera: Schizophora) . Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada . 103 . 1–66 .
4. Ozerov . A.L. . 2004 . On the classification of the family Piophilidae (Diptera) . Entomological Review . 84 . 5 . 600–608 .