First records of parasitoidism by Sarcophagidae flies (Diptera) on three amphibian species in Mexico

ABSTRACT

Myiasis of amphibians is one example of parasitoidism in which the body of these vertebrates is infested by fly larvae. Only four families of Diptera have species reported as myiasigenous of amphibians: Chloropidae, Muscidae, Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae. The latter is the only family for which cases of myiasis have been reported for the Neotropics, with observations from Nicaragua to Argentina. As part of a project to evaluate the conservation status of amphibian species in Mexico, five cases of myiasis were recorded in three frog species belonging to the families Hylidae, Ranidae and Craugastoridae. This study presents the first records of myiasis by a sarcophagid in Mexico, expands the geographical distribution of Lepidodexia (Notochaeta) bufonivora, reports new amphibian hosts for this parasitoid fly, and provides new details of both sarcophagid larvae and females.

KEYWORDS:

• Conservation
• flesh fly
• frogs
• Lepidodexia (Notochaeta) bufonivora
• myiasis

Acknowledgements

We thank everyone who provided field assistance. Also, we are grateful to M.C. Juarez-Ramírez and M.T. Oropeza-Sánchez who kindly contributed amphibian specimens. Bianca Delfosse improved the English of this manuscript. We thank M.A. Bazán-Téllez for the photos of the Santa Gertrudis frog. Scientific collection permits (FAUT-0303 and SGPA/DGVS/03444/15) were issued by the Mexican Wildlife Agency (SEMARNAT, Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad [Project JF212].