Photos - Sarcophaga - Part II
1 August 2005 / Monday -- I slept for 5 hours, waking up at 06h, luckily, for my 07h appointment with the vet -- I do not have a working alarm clock, but somehow my internal timekeeper usually wakes me in time for something that is important to me. I gathered together two versions of some illustrated appointment cards that I made for Dr. John Kazmierczak, founder and director of the clinic, after my visit last week, to replace the ones that did not have the name or address of the animal hospital nor the telephone number on it, as well as the specimens in alcohol and frozen, plus my Nikon digital camera to get a shot of the photo setup.
It was ready to function as I arrived a couple minutes after 07h -- the veterinary technicians Donna Gels explained the setup to me, and Steve Deveney, was assigned to assist me with taking the pics -- Steve was very attentive, and, as usual, when there is somebody to talk to, I chewed his ear off about some of my other published research and stuff. Dr. K actually allowed me to handle the equipment, which I thought was super kewl. They had never done this kind of work with it, and needless to say, neither had I.
They use a Med RX Scope, made by Med RX Inc., a neato specialized computer apparatus, with a handheld miniature camera having a light attachment -- the light may be adjusted, but I found that the highest intensity was best for what I was doing, although it did seem to wash out some of the color, in particular, that of the bright red eyes. It was not all that easy to get the top heavy pencil-like camera with cables hanging out in an exact position relative to the specimen, hold it perfectly steady, while watching the image on the screen, and clicking the trackball button to take the snapshot -- several times Steve had to do the click for me. What Steve has in his right hand is the camera, while the processor and external input devices are to the left.
The first photo was taken at 07:07h, and the last one, #32, was time stamped at 08:29 -- I could have gone on for another hour or so, but decided that was enough for this session -- my eyes were getting more frequent after images / blind spots from the very bright light beam, and they had other things to do other than allow me to occupy one of their consulting rooms. I loaded the snapshots on a miniature 1GB USB drive I brought with me, and to make sure they loaded as they should, Steve plugged it into a PC laptop in another room, and there they were!
A total of 8 flies were photographed, as well as some of the larvae -- surprisingly, one female had part of a larva just coming out when she was frozen. I numbered the specimen vials, provided by Dr. K, for each of those photographed. I am quite happy with the results -- the following pics are shown / numbered in the order taken -- whether or not they can be used to help identify the species is unknown at this point.
** CLICK thumbnails for larger image, which open in new browser window for convenience
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my simplistic collecting gear to catch the flies alive -- I cup them with the container, place a card below to trap them, carefully put them in the freezer for 5+ minutes, then transfer to a vial, and keep in freezer |
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#1 -- large, frozen |
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#1 -- large, frozen |
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#1 -- large, frozen |
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#1 -- large, frozen |
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#2 -- single green bodied fly, noticeably different from all the others, even without a lupe -- green is iridescent -- frozen |
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#2 -- the same single green bodied fly caught -- frozen |
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alcohol #1 -- with flies and the larvae they expelled when placed in the isopropyl -- the round sickel-shaped artifact was caused by the reflection of the camera light on the surface of the alcohol |
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#3 -- large, in isopropyl |
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#3 -- large, in 70% isopropyl |
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#3a -- a large fly in alcohol #1 |
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alcohol #1 -- view of several larvae |
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#3a -- large fly in alcohol #1 -- you will note a larva on the upper right |
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alcohol #2 -- showing a number of larvae expelled when the flies were placed in alcohol |
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#4 -- small fly, frozen |
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#4 -- small fly, frozen |
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#4 -- small fly, frozen |
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#4 -- small fly, frozen |
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#4 -- small fly, frozen |
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#5 -- small fly, frozen |
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#5 -- small fly, frozen |
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#5 -- small fly, frozen -- a larva is seen starting to emerge |
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#5 -- small fly, frozen -- the same fly from a different angle -- note larva beginning to emerge |
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#6 -- large fly, frozen |
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#6 -- large fly, frozen |
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#6 -- large fly, frozen |
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#6 -- large fly, frozen |
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#6 -- large fly, frozen |
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#6 -- large fly, frozen |
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#6 -- large fly, frozen |
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#7 -- small fly, frozen |
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#7 -- small fly, frozen | my sincere thank you to Dr. John Kazmierczak, Donna Gels and Steve Deveney for their help in obtaining these photos |
Ar 12:30h I finished cropping and processing the photos, individually made each thumbnail, then started this page. At 18:54 I think it is ready to be loaded online.
Several days ago, Dr. Thomas Nolan, parasitologist at the University of Pennsylvania, replied to an email I sent him -- "These flies are also known as "flesh flies" as they like to lay their larvae in rotten meat. Sometimes they will lay larvae in wounds and the maggots will cause subcutaneous lesions around the margins of the open wound. They are not known to invade intact skin.
In the past we tried to have some of these flies (which we raised from maggots recovered from a live dog) identified to species. We could find only one person who could help us, but he needed male adult flies for the species identification and we only had females!
Dr. Frederick Fry, a chemist with the FDA who I also emailed, suggested that I contact Dr. George Ziobro, a specialist in Sarcophaga -- which I attempted to do but he is away and will not return for several weeks.
What I need now are reference books / reprints on the identification of the different species -- the flies I have are basically of two sizes, one slightly longer than 1cm, while the others are not nearly as large or robust -- perhaps two different species? Both produce living larvae, so it cannot simply be due to a form of sexual dimorphism.
Curiously, as if by Synchronicity, about 5 feet from my desk I found a book stashed above one of my display cases among unrelated old tomes -- Third Report of the United States Entomological Commission Relating to The Rocky Mountain Locust, The Western Cricket, The Army Worm, Canker Worms, and the Hessian Fly. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.: 400+pp. 1883 -- it contains distribution maps for the forest pests, many anatomical plates to identify locust species, and mentions that Sarcophaga carnaria Linné is parasitic on the locust and other damaging insects in the Rocky Mountains.
If any of my readers can provide reprints or photocopies of studies in any way related to this genus, I would be most grateful if they would contact me. Once identified, I may write a paper on them and try to have it published somewhere -- John and Steve might want to include something about the potential veterinary aspects of these flies.
Although I have published research on several subjects, my only other works specifically concerning insects were published in Spain when I was doing graduate work there and teaching at the University -- they describe one of two genera of parasitic burrowing wasp which conveniently inhabited the driveway of my rural finca in Tenerife (Canary Islands), in one of the few remaining mountainous areas still home to a distinctive relict flora remaining from the last Ice Age -- I made plastic casts of their burrows, some of which included the wasp and its prey, something that had never been done before:
1976c
1977a
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Photos II |
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God Bless !
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