Calliphora stygia

Description

Calliphora stygia, commonly known as the brown blowfly, or rango tumaro in Māori, is a species of blow-fly that is found in Australia and New Zealand. The brown blowfly has a grey thorax and yellow-brown abdomen. This fly is typically one of the first and primary colonizers on corpses, and are considered to be necrophagous and parasitic. It is able to colonize a body within hours after death, when it is considered to be in the "fresh" stage of decomposition. Regardless of the environment a body is in, adult C. stygia will lay eggs in any, and all orifices such as, but not limited to eyes, nose, mouth, and wounds that occur before and after death. Colonies are formed from larval masses that congregate in the abdomen and chest cavity of a corpse. C. stygia, being native to Australia and New Zealand, co-exist with other necrophageist flies such as C. hilli, L. sericata, and C. vicine. C. stygia is part of a natural process of decomposition called succession: flies that tend to colonize after C. stygia, are C. rufifaccies and H. rostra.