Page 90 - VERITAS Vol.2 Issue 2

When it is windy, extremely dry, and hot, or when it is chilly out-

side, they struggle. These circumstances are crucial to the blow

fly’s life cycle.

LIFE CYCLE OF A BLOWFLY!
The female blow fly deposits eggs to start the life cycle. A single

female is capable of depositing between 250 and 300 eggs, mainly

throughout the winter. Two to three weeks are needed to complete

the life cycle. The male blowfly is sexually mature when it is born,

however, the female blowfly must ingest some protein before she

may mate. The holes of a corpse or wounds are where the eggs are

often placed. The rotting material is subsequently consumed by the
larvae. The eggs subsequently hatch after 24 to 48 hours.

FORENSIC SIGNIFICANCE IN REGARD TO BLOWFLIES

Blow flies are indeed the organisms that first get attracted to the

corpse. That is why they are considered to be of very great forensic

significance. These flies are influenced by a wide range of factors

that make them both, attract and repel. The legs, cerci, and anten-
nae of blow flies have receptors that have the potential to respond

to the attractants around them. They usually tend to prefer filthy

areas and attract the odour of animal excretions and secretions, am-

monia, and fatty acids. The fumes released by the burning of eu-

calyptus oil in a simmering pot will repel these flies away. They

have a tendency to fly almost up to 10 to 12 miles away from their

origin by carrying traces of decay and searching for an appropriate
dead corpse to lay their eggs whose life cycle is very significant in

determining the time since the death of the body. Not just on dead

bodies, rather they also lay eggs on meat, garbage, poorly managed

compost files, and other unhygienic areas. They are not capable of

harming you through a bite or a sting. But, yet they are way too dan-

gerous as they act as vectors and may cause health-related diseases

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Veritas Volume: 2, Issue: 2