Ecological Survey of Medically Important Flies in Andimeshk County, Southwest Iran: Species Composition, Diversity and Synanthropy
Abstract
Background: Flies play a significant role in public health because of their potential to transmit human pathogens and cause myiasis. This study aimed to investigate the species composition, abundance, biodiversity, and synanthropy of medically important flies in southwest Iran.
Methods: Flies were collected from urban, semi-urban and non-residential ecosystems of Andimeshk county, southwest Iran, from 2020 to 2021 using a bottle trap and sweep net. All collected specimens were identified using taxonomic keys. Biodiversity and synanthropic indices were calculated.
Results: A total of 15644 flies belonging to three families of Sarcophagidae, Calliphoridae and Muscidae were collected, comprising 11 genus and 18 species of Sarcophaga ruficornis (0.5%), S. aegyptica (0.9%), S. melanura (0.6%), S. africa (0.6%), Sarcophaga sp. (2.6%), Ravinia pernix (0.4%), Sarcophila sp. (0.3%), Wohlfahrtia sp. (0.6%), Chrysomya albiceps (9%), Chrysomya megacephala (36.3%), Lucilia sericata (2.5%), Calliphora vicina (0.3%), Polenia sp. (0.5%), Musca domestica (30.8%), Musca automnalis (0.6%), Muscina stabulans (2.4%), Muscina prolapse (0.4%), Atherigona sp. (0.6%) were trapped. The synanthropic index (SI) was +52.25, +46.2, +35.1, +35.95, and +21.45 for the myiasis-causing species, including C. vicina, S. africa, C. albispes, C. megalocephala and S. aegyptica, respectively. The biodiversity and evenness indices were 1.82±0.026 and 0.6306±0.0009, indicating a relatively high diversity and moderate/high evenness of flies in the study area.
Conclusion: Given synanthropic behavior and widespread presence of C. megacephala, this species should be prioritized in future surveillance and control programs to reduce public health risks.
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2. Graczyk TK, Knight R, Tamang L (2005) Mechanical transmission of human pro-tozoan parasites by insects. Clin Micro-biol Rev. 18(1): 128 ̶ 132.
3. Stevens JR, Wallman JF, Otranto D, Wall R, Pape T (2006) The evolution of my-iasis in humans and other animals in the Old and New Worlds (part II): biologi-cal and life-history studies. Trends Para-sitol. 22(4): 181 ̶ 188.
4. Zaidi F, Fatima SH, Khisroon M, Gul A (2016) Distribution modeling of three screwworm species in the ecologically diverse landscape of North West Paki-stan. Acta Trop. 162: 56 ̶ 65.
5. Wyss JH (2000) Screwworm eradication in the Americas. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 916(1): 186 ̶ 193.
6. Sykes JE (2022) Myiasis. In: Sykes JE, Merkel L, Little SE: Greene's Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat, WB Saun-ders, pp. 1347 ̶ 1358.
7. Williams KA, Villet MH (2019) Spatial and seasonal distribution of forensically important blow flies (Diptera: Calliphor-idae) in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa. J Med Entomol. 56(5): 1231 ̶ 1238.
8. Lee HL and Yong YK (1991) Human aural myiasis. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 22(2): 274 ̶ 275.
9. Khamesipour F, Lankarani KB, Honarvar B, Kwenti TE (2018) A systematic re-view of human pathogens carried by the housefly (Musca domestica L.). BMC Public Health. 18: 1 ̶ 5.
10. Alsaad R (2023) Control study of Musca domestica (Diptera, Muscidae) in Misan Province. F1000 Res. 12: 459
11. Geden CJ, Nayduch D, Scott JG, Burgess IV ER, Gerry AC, Kaufman PE, Thom-son J, Pickens V, Machtinger ET (2021) House fly (Diptera: Muscidae): biology, pest status, current management pro-spects, and research needs. Integ Pest Manag. 12(1): 1–38.
12. Ibrahim AA, Ahmed HH, Adam RA, Ah-med A, Elaagip A (2018) Detection of intestinal parasites transmitted mechani-cally by house flies (Musca domestica, Diptera: Muscidae) infesting slaughter-houses in Khartoum State, Sudan. Int J Trop Dis. 1(1): 1 ̶ 5.
13. Achra A, Prakash P, Verma B, Amar A (2015) Unusual presentation of intesti¬nal myiasis due to Musca domestica: A report of two cases. Asian J Med Sci. 6(1): 124 ̶ 126.
14. Khater H, Gad M, Mahmoud M, Ibrahim R, El-Sitiny M (2023) The Bioefficacy of Essential Oils against the False Stable Fly, Muscina stabulans (Harris) (Dip¬tera: Muscidae). Benha J Appl Sci. 8(5): 105 ̶ 113.
15. Jacques BJ, Bourret TJ, Shaffer JJ (2017) Role of fly cleaning behavior on car¬riage of Escherichia coli and Pseudo¬monas aeruginosa. J Med Entomol. 54 (6): 1712 ̶ 1717.
16. Tantawi TI, El-Shenawy IE, El-Salam A, Hoda F, Madkour SA, Mahany NM (2018) Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae, Sarcopha¬gidae, Muscidae) associated with human corpses in Alexandria, Egypt. J Biosci Appl Res. 4(2): 106 ̶ 130.
17. Abd El-Halim AS, Soliman MI, Aly NE, Mikhail MW (2018) Prevalence of dip-terous flies associated with human and animal diseases in Menoufia gover-norate, Egypt. J Egy Soc Parasitol. 48(2): 459 ̶ 464.
18. Skevington JH, Dang PT (2002) Explor¬ing the diversity of flies (Diptera). Bio-divers. 3(4): 3 ̶ 27.
19. Sanei-Dehkordi A, Soleimani-Ahmadi M, Cheshmposhan A, Akbarzadeh K (2020) Biodiversity of medically important ca-lyptratae flies (Diptera: Schizophora) in Hospitals in the Northern Coastline of the Persian Gulf, Iran. J Med Entomol. 57(3): 766 ̶ 771.
20. Jafari S, Oshaghi MA, Akbarzadeh K, Abai MR, Koosha M, Mohtarami F (2019) Iden¬tification of forensically im-portant flesh flies using the cytochrome C oxidase sub¬units I and II genes. J Med Entomol. 56(5): 1253 ̶ 1259.
21. Talebzadeh F, Oshaghi MA, Akbarzadeh K, Panahi-Moghadam S (2020) Molecu-lar species identification of six forensi-cally important Iranian flesh flies (Dip-tera). J Arthropod-Borne Dis. 14(4): 416 ̶ 424.
22. Khosravi G, Akbarzadeh K, Karimian F, Koosha M, Saeedi S, Oshaghi MA (2024) A survey of Wolbachia in-fection in brachy¬ceran flies from Iran. PLoS One. 19(5): e0301274.
23. Pont AC, Werner D, Kachvoryan EA (2005) A preliminary list of the Fanni-idae and Muscidae (Diptera) of Arme-nia. Zool Mid¬dle East. 36(1): 73 ̶ 86.
24. Povolny D (1997) The flesh-flies of Cen-tral Europe (Insecta, Diptera, Sarcopha-gidae). Spixiana Supplement. 24: 1 ̶ 260.
25. Akbarzadeh K, Wallman JF, Sulakova H, Szpila K (2015) Species identification of Middle Eastern blowflies (Diptera: Cal-liphoridae) of forensic importance. Par¬a-sitol Res. 114(4): 1463 ̶ 1472.
26. Uribe-M N, Wolff M, de Carvalho CJ (2010) Synanthropy and ecological as-pects of Muscidae (Diptera) in a tropical dry for¬est ecosystem in Colombia. Rev Bras En¬tomol. 54: 462 ̶ 470.
27. Akbarzadeh K, Saghafipour A, Jesri N, Karami-Jooshin M, Arzamani K, Haz-ratian T, Kordshouli RS, Afshar AA (2018) Spatial distribution of necro-phagous flies of infraorder muscomor-pha in Iran using geographical infor-mation system. J Med Entomol. 55(5): 1071 ̶ 1085.
28. Davari B, Sarihi F, Akbarzadeh K, Nazari M, Zahirnia AH, Aghaei Afshar A (2018) Biological diversity and the synanthropy behvaiour of Calliphoridae flies in Aba¬dan County. J Kerman Univ Med Sci. 25(3): 265 ̶ 272.
29. Nateghpour M, Akbarzadeh K (2017) Nec¬rophagous flies of synanthropic hab-itats in the South-East Iran. Orient In-sects. 51(4): 380 ̶ 390.
30. Mozaffari E, Saghafipour A, Arzamani K, Jesri N, Kababian M, Hashemi SA (2020) Geographical distribution, biodi-versity, and species richness of medical-ly im¬portant necrophagous flies in cen-tral Iran. J Med Entomol. 57(2): 377 ̶ 381.
31. Nateghpour M, Yaghubi MR (1986) The report of Chrysomya megacephala and Ch. albiceps in Bandar Abbas and Minab. J Envi. 13(14): 75 ̶ 82.
32. Khoobdel M, Akbarzadeh K, Jafari H, Mehrabi Tavana A, Izadi M, Mosavo Jaza¬yeri A (2013) Diversity and abundance of medically important flies in the Ira¬nian triple islands; the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu-Musa. Iran J Mili¬tary Med. 14(4): 326 ̶ 327.
33. Khater K (2021) Toxicological and ultra-structural effects of chitin synthesis in-hibitors (lufenuron and chlorfluazuron) on third larval instars' integument of Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera: Calli¬phor-idae). Parasitol United J. 14(1): 95 ̶ 103.
34. Motevali Haghi SF, Aminzadeh Gohari R, Akbarzadeh K, Enayati A, Dehghan O, Nikookar SH, Fazeli-Dinan M, Eslam¬ifar M, Yazdani-Charati J, Sahraee F, Hos-seini Vasoukolaei N (2023) Diversi¬ty as-sessment and the effect of tempera¬ture and humidity on the relative abun¬dance of med¬ically important fly species in Fou¬ladshahr, Isfahan Province. Ar-maghane Danesh. 28(5): 704 ̶ ̶ 715.
35. Motevalli Haghi F, Jafari F, Akbarzadeh K, Eslamifar M, Jafari A, Dehghan O, Sheikhi M, Nikookar SH, Yazdani-Chera¬ti J, Fazeli Dinan M, Enayati A (2021) Study of fauna and biodiversity of medi¬cally important flies in Juybar, North of Iran. J Mazandaran Uni Med Sci. 31 (195): 67 ̶ 81.
36. Chaiwong T, Srivoramas T, Sueabsamran P, Sukontason K, Sanford MR, Sukonta¬son KL (2014) The blow fly, Chrysomya meg¬acephala and the house fly, Musca domestica, as mechanical vectors of path¬ogenic bacteria in North-east Thailand. Trop Biomed. 31(2): 336–346.
37. Greco S, Brandmayr P, Bonacci T (2014) Synanthropy and temporal variability of Calliphoridae living in Cosenza (Ca-labria, Southern Italy). J Insect Sci. 14(216).
38. Hall M, Wall R (1995) Myiasis of humans and domestic animals. Adv Parasitol. 35: 257 ̶ 334.
39. Hassan KS, Al-Mansour NA, Gynhum AN (2016) Abundance of some Myiasis cause flies in the Marshes of Basrah, Southern IRAQ. J Purity Utility Reac-tion and En¬viron. 5(2): 61 ̶ 72.
40. Beltran YTP, Segura NA, Bello FJ (2012) Synanthropy of Calliphoridae and Sar-cophagidae (Diptera) in Bogotá, Co¬lom-bia. Neotrop Entomol. 41(3): 237 ̶ 242.
41. Akbari M, Rafinejad J, Fazeli-Dinan M, Aivazi AA, Jalilian A, Sheikhi S, Ak-barzadeh K (2023) Species diversity of medically important necrophagous flies in Southwest Iran. Biodiversitas. 24(3): 1467 ̶ 1472.
42. Nelson BR, Mamat MA, Cheeho W, Shahi¬mi S (2020) Forest birds as diver-sity in¬dicator in suburban and residential ar¬eas. Ecofeminism Clim Chang. 1(1): 57 ̶ 62.
43. Oliveira Hagen E, Hagen O, Ibáñez-Ála-mo JD, Petchey OL, Evans KL (2017) Impacts of urban areas and their char¬ac-teristics on avian functional di¬versity. Front Ecol Evol. 5.
44. Kemp JE, Ellis AG (2017) Significant lo-cal-scale plant-insect species richness re-lationship independent of abiotic ef¬fects in the temperate Cape Floristic re¬gion bi-odiversity hotspot. PLoS One. 12(1): e0168033.
2. Graczyk TK, Knight R, Tamang L (2005) Mechanical transmission of human pro-tozoan parasites by insects. Clin Micro-biol Rev. 18(1): 128 ̶ 132.
3. Stevens JR, Wallman JF, Otranto D, Wall R, Pape T (2006) The evolution of my-iasis in humans and other animals in the Old and New Worlds (part II): biologi-cal and life-history studies. Trends Para-sitol. 22(4): 181 ̶ 188.
4. Zaidi F, Fatima SH, Khisroon M, Gul A (2016) Distribution modeling of three screwworm species in the ecologically diverse landscape of North West Paki-stan. Acta Trop. 162: 56 ̶ 65.
5. Wyss JH (2000) Screwworm eradication in the Americas. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 916(1): 186 ̶ 193.
6. Sykes JE (2022) Myiasis. In: Sykes JE, Merkel L, Little SE: Greene's Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat, WB Saun-ders, pp. 1347 ̶ 1358.
7. Williams KA, Villet MH (2019) Spatial and seasonal distribution of forensically important blow flies (Diptera: Calliphor-idae) in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa. J Med Entomol. 56(5): 1231 ̶ 1238.
8. Lee HL and Yong YK (1991) Human aural myiasis. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 22(2): 274 ̶ 275.
9. Khamesipour F, Lankarani KB, Honarvar B, Kwenti TE (2018) A systematic re-view of human pathogens carried by the housefly (Musca domestica L.). BMC Public Health. 18: 1 ̶ 5.
10. Alsaad R (2023) Control study of Musca domestica (Diptera, Muscidae) in Misan Province. F1000 Res. 12: 459
11. Geden CJ, Nayduch D, Scott JG, Burgess IV ER, Gerry AC, Kaufman PE, Thom-son J, Pickens V, Machtinger ET (2021) House fly (Diptera: Muscidae): biology, pest status, current management pro-spects, and research needs. Integ Pest Manag. 12(1): 1–38.
12. Ibrahim AA, Ahmed HH, Adam RA, Ah-med A, Elaagip A (2018) Detection of intestinal parasites transmitted mechani-cally by house flies (Musca domestica, Diptera: Muscidae) infesting slaughter-houses in Khartoum State, Sudan. Int J Trop Dis. 1(1): 1 ̶ 5.
13. Achra A, Prakash P, Verma B, Amar A (2015) Unusual presentation of intesti¬nal myiasis due to Musca domestica: A report of two cases. Asian J Med Sci. 6(1): 124 ̶ 126.
14. Khater H, Gad M, Mahmoud M, Ibrahim R, El-Sitiny M (2023) The Bioefficacy of Essential Oils against the False Stable Fly, Muscina stabulans (Harris) (Dip¬tera: Muscidae). Benha J Appl Sci. 8(5): 105 ̶ 113.
15. Jacques BJ, Bourret TJ, Shaffer JJ (2017) Role of fly cleaning behavior on car¬riage of Escherichia coli and Pseudo¬monas aeruginosa. J Med Entomol. 54 (6): 1712 ̶ 1717.
16. Tantawi TI, El-Shenawy IE, El-Salam A, Hoda F, Madkour SA, Mahany NM (2018) Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae, Sarcopha¬gidae, Muscidae) associated with human corpses in Alexandria, Egypt. J Biosci Appl Res. 4(2): 106 ̶ 130.
17. Abd El-Halim AS, Soliman MI, Aly NE, Mikhail MW (2018) Prevalence of dip-terous flies associated with human and animal diseases in Menoufia gover-norate, Egypt. J Egy Soc Parasitol. 48(2): 459 ̶ 464.
18. Skevington JH, Dang PT (2002) Explor¬ing the diversity of flies (Diptera). Bio-divers. 3(4): 3 ̶ 27.
19. Sanei-Dehkordi A, Soleimani-Ahmadi M, Cheshmposhan A, Akbarzadeh K (2020) Biodiversity of medically important ca-lyptratae flies (Diptera: Schizophora) in Hospitals in the Northern Coastline of the Persian Gulf, Iran. J Med Entomol. 57(3): 766 ̶ 771.
20. Jafari S, Oshaghi MA, Akbarzadeh K, Abai MR, Koosha M, Mohtarami F (2019) Iden¬tification of forensically im-portant flesh flies using the cytochrome C oxidase sub¬units I and II genes. J Med Entomol. 56(5): 1253 ̶ 1259.
21. Talebzadeh F, Oshaghi MA, Akbarzadeh K, Panahi-Moghadam S (2020) Molecu-lar species identification of six forensi-cally important Iranian flesh flies (Dip-tera). J Arthropod-Borne Dis. 14(4): 416 ̶ 424.
22. Khosravi G, Akbarzadeh K, Karimian F, Koosha M, Saeedi S, Oshaghi MA (2024) A survey of Wolbachia in-fection in brachy¬ceran flies from Iran. PLoS One. 19(5): e0301274.
23. Pont AC, Werner D, Kachvoryan EA (2005) A preliminary list of the Fanni-idae and Muscidae (Diptera) of Arme-nia. Zool Mid¬dle East. 36(1): 73 ̶ 86.
24. Povolny D (1997) The flesh-flies of Cen-tral Europe (Insecta, Diptera, Sarcopha-gidae). Spixiana Supplement. 24: 1 ̶ 260.
25. Akbarzadeh K, Wallman JF, Sulakova H, Szpila K (2015) Species identification of Middle Eastern blowflies (Diptera: Cal-liphoridae) of forensic importance. Par¬a-sitol Res. 114(4): 1463 ̶ 1472.
26. Uribe-M N, Wolff M, de Carvalho CJ (2010) Synanthropy and ecological as-pects of Muscidae (Diptera) in a tropical dry for¬est ecosystem in Colombia. Rev Bras En¬tomol. 54: 462 ̶ 470.
27. Akbarzadeh K, Saghafipour A, Jesri N, Karami-Jooshin M, Arzamani K, Haz-ratian T, Kordshouli RS, Afshar AA (2018) Spatial distribution of necro-phagous flies of infraorder muscomor-pha in Iran using geographical infor-mation system. J Med Entomol. 55(5): 1071 ̶ 1085.
28. Davari B, Sarihi F, Akbarzadeh K, Nazari M, Zahirnia AH, Aghaei Afshar A (2018) Biological diversity and the synanthropy behvaiour of Calliphoridae flies in Aba¬dan County. J Kerman Univ Med Sci. 25(3): 265 ̶ 272.
29. Nateghpour M, Akbarzadeh K (2017) Nec¬rophagous flies of synanthropic hab-itats in the South-East Iran. Orient In-sects. 51(4): 380 ̶ 390.
30. Mozaffari E, Saghafipour A, Arzamani K, Jesri N, Kababian M, Hashemi SA (2020) Geographical distribution, biodi-versity, and species richness of medical-ly im¬portant necrophagous flies in cen-tral Iran. J Med Entomol. 57(2): 377 ̶ 381.
31. Nateghpour M, Yaghubi MR (1986) The report of Chrysomya megacephala and Ch. albiceps in Bandar Abbas and Minab. J Envi. 13(14): 75 ̶ 82.
32. Khoobdel M, Akbarzadeh K, Jafari H, Mehrabi Tavana A, Izadi M, Mosavo Jaza¬yeri A (2013) Diversity and abundance of medically important flies in the Ira¬nian triple islands; the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu-Musa. Iran J Mili¬tary Med. 14(4): 326 ̶ 327.
33. Khater K (2021) Toxicological and ultra-structural effects of chitin synthesis in-hibitors (lufenuron and chlorfluazuron) on third larval instars' integument of Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera: Calli¬phor-idae). Parasitol United J. 14(1): 95 ̶ 103.
34. Motevali Haghi SF, Aminzadeh Gohari R, Akbarzadeh K, Enayati A, Dehghan O, Nikookar SH, Fazeli-Dinan M, Eslam¬ifar M, Yazdani-Charati J, Sahraee F, Hos-seini Vasoukolaei N (2023) Diversi¬ty as-sessment and the effect of tempera¬ture and humidity on the relative abun¬dance of med¬ically important fly species in Fou¬ladshahr, Isfahan Province. Ar-maghane Danesh. 28(5): 704 ̶ ̶ 715.
35. Motevalli Haghi F, Jafari F, Akbarzadeh K, Eslamifar M, Jafari A, Dehghan O, Sheikhi M, Nikookar SH, Yazdani-Chera¬ti J, Fazeli Dinan M, Enayati A (2021) Study of fauna and biodiversity of medi¬cally important flies in Juybar, North of Iran. J Mazandaran Uni Med Sci. 31 (195): 67 ̶ 81.
36. Chaiwong T, Srivoramas T, Sueabsamran P, Sukontason K, Sanford MR, Sukonta¬son KL (2014) The blow fly, Chrysomya meg¬acephala and the house fly, Musca domestica, as mechanical vectors of path¬ogenic bacteria in North-east Thailand. Trop Biomed. 31(2): 336–346.
37. Greco S, Brandmayr P, Bonacci T (2014) Synanthropy and temporal variability of Calliphoridae living in Cosenza (Ca-labria, Southern Italy). J Insect Sci. 14(216).
38. Hall M, Wall R (1995) Myiasis of humans and domestic animals. Adv Parasitol. 35: 257 ̶ 334.
39. Hassan KS, Al-Mansour NA, Gynhum AN (2016) Abundance of some Myiasis cause flies in the Marshes of Basrah, Southern IRAQ. J Purity Utility Reac-tion and En¬viron. 5(2): 61 ̶ 72.
40. Beltran YTP, Segura NA, Bello FJ (2012) Synanthropy of Calliphoridae and Sar-cophagidae (Diptera) in Bogotá, Co¬lom-bia. Neotrop Entomol. 41(3): 237 ̶ 242.
41. Akbari M, Rafinejad J, Fazeli-Dinan M, Aivazi AA, Jalilian A, Sheikhi S, Ak-barzadeh K (2023) Species diversity of medically important necrophagous flies in Southwest Iran. Biodiversitas. 24(3): 1467 ̶ 1472.
42. Nelson BR, Mamat MA, Cheeho W, Shahi¬mi S (2020) Forest birds as diver-sity in¬dicator in suburban and residential ar¬eas. Ecofeminism Clim Chang. 1(1): 57 ̶ 62.
43. Oliveira Hagen E, Hagen O, Ibáñez-Ála-mo JD, Petchey OL, Evans KL (2017) Impacts of urban areas and their char¬ac-teristics on avian functional di¬versity. Front Ecol Evol. 5.
44. Kemp JE, Ellis AG (2017) Significant lo-cal-scale plant-insect species richness re-lationship independent of abiotic ef¬fects in the temperate Cape Floristic re¬gion bi-odiversity hotspot. PLoS One. 12(1): e0168033.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 19 No 2 (2025) | |
| Section | Original Article | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/jad.v19i2.20189 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Myiasis Diptera Biodiversity Sarchophagidae Calliphoridae | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Nasiri A, Akbarzadeh K, Jahanifard E, Sharififard M. Ecological Survey of Medically Important Flies in Andimeshk County, Southwest Iran: Species Composition, Diversity and Synanthropy. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 2025;19(2):99-112.
