Sarcosaprophagous dipterans associated with differentially-decomposed substrates in Atlantic Forest environments

Abstract

Sarcosaprophagous flies may show temporal variations in terms of their location and colonization in ephemeral resources, in addition to their richness and abundance changing according to the substrate age. The present study examined the influence of decomposition time on the: (i) composition of the sarcosaprophagous dipterofauna; (ii) sexual proportion of the collected specimens; and (iii) the stage of sexual maturity of female flies (Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae). For this, we used chicken liver with different decomposition times (0h, 24h, 48h, and 76h) for the collection of adult flies. The results showed that: i) the assemblages were most diverse and abundant in more decomposed baits; ii) Calliphoridae was the most abundant taxa in all treatments; iii) the reproductive stage varied according to the age of the substrate, with high rates of mature or pregnant females in the older substrates; and iv) the number of males blowflies was higher in older baits, but it did not vary for flesh flies. Thus, this work demonstrates experimentally that the substrate age is an influencing factor in the composition of sarcosaprophagous flies’ assemblage, and it indication of the dipterans potential as primary or secondary colonizers throughout colonization of ephemeral resources.