Chrysomya bezziana

Chrysomya bezziana
Chrysomya bezziana adult and larva
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Calliphoridae
Genus:	Chrysomya
Species:	C. bezziana
Binomial name
Chrysomya bezziana (Villeneuve, 1914)

Chrysomya bezziana, also known as the Old World screwworm fly or screwworm, is an obligate parasite of mammals. Obligate parasitic flies require a host to complete their development. Named to honor the Italian entomologist Mario Bezzi, this fly is widely distributed in Asia, tropical Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea. The adult can be identified as metallic green or blue with a yellow face and the larvae are smooth, lacking any obvious body processes except on the last segment.

The fly feeds on decaying organic matter, while the fly larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded mammals as opposed to necrotic tissue that many other fly larvae feed on. Since the larvae can cause permanent tissue damage, C. bezziana has led to much public concern. Management procedures include both prevention of colonization of the fly and treatment of a current infestation. As of early 2009, little research was being conducted on the fly, as it is an unsuitable agent for maggot therapy (a medical procedure in which maggots are used to clean festering wounds) because the maggots aggressively burrow through living tissue. Recent publications of C. bezziana present medical case studies of the fly.

Chrysomya bezziana is widely distributed throughout tropical areas in the Old World. It is most prevalent in Southeast Asia, tropical and subtropical Africa, some countries in the Middle East, India, the Malay Peninsula, the Indonesian and Philippine Islands, and Papua New Guinea.C. bezziana is not found at altitudes higher than 2500 meters above sea level.

...
Wikipedia