Seasonal Abundance of Blow Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in Three Urban Parks of Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Designing effective management programs for insect vectors of human and livestock diseases requires knowledge of the species composition and seasonal abundance of the vectors. The seasonality of blow fl ies was assessed throughout 1 yr with baited traps in three tropical, urban parks in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 11,625 blow fl ies were captured and identifi ed, consisting of fi ve species from three genera—Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) (73.37%), C. rufi facies (Macquart) (22.96%), Hemipyrellia ligurriens (Wiedemann) (3.27%), C. nigripes Aubertin (0.38%) and Phumosia indica (Surcouf) (0.03%). More females were collected than males with a ratio of 2.9:1, respectively. Abundance of the two most common species showed a trimodal pattern with peaks in January, September and June and the three most common species occurred in baited fl y traps throughout the year. The greatest number of C. megacephala was captured in January while C. rufi facies peaked in September. Hemipyrellia ligurriens was more abundant during June to October. Abundance levels of the two most common species were negatively correlated with the temperature and relative humidity.