Chrysomya megacephala
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Chrysomya megacephala, more commonly known as the oriental latrine fly or oriental blue fly, is a member of the family Calliphoridae (blowflies). It is a warm-weather fly with a greenish-blue metallic box-like body. The fly infests corpses soon after death, making it important to forensic science. This fly is implicated in some public health issues; it can be the cause of myiasis, and also infects fish and livestock.
Chrysomya megacephala's eggs are "oval with one flat face and another convex". Adult flies reflect a metallic blue-green color on their thorax and abdomen and have yellow gena, or cheeks. Larvae vary in size according to instar and are shaped more thickly towards the rear. C. megacephala have large red eyes, those of males being close together, and those of females farther apart. The cercus of the male is longer than that of the female.
Chrysomya megacephala has a wide geographical distribution. It is most common in the Oriental and Australasian realms. It is also found in Japan and the Palearctic realm. The range of C. megacephala has grown since the 1970s, with the species expanding into New Zealand and Africa, along with... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guiyang | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Tel Aviv | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 3 | Prayagraj | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Zhuhai [Macau] | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 6 | Pune | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Manila | 🇵🇭 Philippines | |
| 8 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 9 | Chennai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Mumbai | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Latrine Fly sighting in Chennai on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 237th most-seen of the 376 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–June and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Latrine Fly in Chennai on a given day, against under 5% in January and July–November, the lowest months. Those are among Chennai's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain a month against 290 mm in November.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Oriental Latrine Fly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 31
Of the 31 cities where we can rate Oriental Latrine Fly sightings, Chennai ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Guiyang (China, about 30%), Tel Aviv (Israel, about 20%) and Prayagraj (India, about 10%).
Same order: Diptera
The closest relatives of the Oriental Latrine Fly that you can see in Chennai (order Diptera, Flies) are Black Soldier Fly (about 20%), Bathroom Moth Fly (about 10%) and Chrysosoma leucopogon (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Oriental Latrine Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Chennai (9 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
