Sarcophaga (Bercaea) africa Wiedemann 1824
Creators: name: Mariluis, Pablo Ricardo Mulieri Juan Carlos
name: Patitucci, Luciano Damián
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Sarcophagidae
Sarcophaga
Sarcophaga africa

description: Sarcophaga (Bercaea) africa (Wiedemann, 1824)
(Fig. 17)
Musca africa Wiedemann, 1824: 49.
Sarcophaga cruentata Meigen, 1826: 28.
Sarcophaga georgina Wiedemann, 1830: 357.
Myophora squalida Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 342.
Myophora villica Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 340.
Sarcophaga aegra Walker, 1849: 821.
Myophora blondeli Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 344.
Sarcophaga consobrina Rondani, 1860: 391. (Junior secondary homonym of Myophora consobrina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830.)
Myophora capensis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 347.
Sarcophaga nurus Rondani, 1860: 392.
Sarcophaga zetterstedtii Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 439.
Sarcophaga iners Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 439.
Sarcophaga pabulorum Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 441.
Sarcophaga fulvipalpis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 442. (Junior primary homonym of Sarcophaga fulvipalpis Macquart, 1844.)
Sarcophaga meigenii Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 442.
Sarcophaga inclyta Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 443.
Sarcophaga praeceps Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 480.
Sarcophaga fugax Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 481.
Myophora nitida Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 510.
Myophora albidula Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 513.
Myophora commendata Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 516.
Bercaea haemathura Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 551.
Bercaea agilis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 552. (Junior secondary homonym of Sarcophaga agilis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863.)
Bercaea oralis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 554. (Junior secondary homonym of Sarcophaga oralis Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863.)
Bercaea agraria Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 554. (Junior secondary homonym of Sarcophaga agraria Robineau- Desvoidy, 1863.)
Bercaea meditata Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863: 576.
Sarcophaga aequipalis Thomson, 1869: 534.
Sarcophaga distinguenda Rondani, 1873: 284.
Sarcophaga sejungenda Rondani, 1873: 285.
Theria flavidula Bigot, 1880: 151. (Junior secondary homonym of Mulsantia flavidula Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863.)
Thyrsotetradiscus friederichsianus Enderlein, 1928: 20.
Mesothyrsia madagascariensis Enderlein, 1928: 37. (Junior secondary homonym of Sarcophaga madagascariensis Macquart, 1847.)
Distribution: Nearctic, Neotropical – Argentina (Buenos Aires), Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul), Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay – Palaearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental, Australasian/Oceanian.
Material studied: Buenos Aires: 1 ɗ Ciud. Aut. Buenos Aires, 31.I.1944 on rotten meat (ANLIS); 2 ɗ, 1 Ψ Burzaco, Alte. Brown, III.2002, Mulieri leg. (ANLIS); 1 ɗ Burzaco, Alte. Brown, III.2002 on liver, Mulieri leg. (ANLIS); 1 Ψ Mar del Plata, Gral. Pueyrredon, XII.2004, Mulieri leg. (ANLIS).
Remarks: Sarcophaga (B.) africa has been misidentified by several authors as S. haemorrhoidalis (Fallén). Good illustrations of the male terminalia can be found in Blanchard (1942a) and Shewell (1987). Illustrations of the female terminalia also can be found in Shewell (1987).
Biology: This cosmopolitan species is regarded as highly synanthropic, and is attracted both to cadavers and faeces in Brazil (Linhares 1981; Dias et al. 1984a, c). Regarding the life cycle of S. africa, some authors have recorded it as coprophagous (Bänziger & Pape 2004), necrophagous (Romera et al. 2003), or as a facultative parasitoid on snails (Coupland & Barker 2004). Host. Gastropoda, Helicidae and Hygromiidae (Coupland & Barker 2004). This species has a medical impact because it is known to cause traumatic, gastrointestinal and aural myiasis (James 1947; Zumpt 1965; Guimarães et al. 1983; Lukin 1989; Sherman 2000; Uni et al. 2005).
description: Published as part of Mariluis, Pablo Ricardo Mulieri Juan Carlos & Patitucci, Luciano Damián, 2010, Review of the Sarcophaginae (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) of Buenos Aires Province (Argentina), with a key and description of a new species, pp. 1-37 in Zootaxa 2575 on page 27, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.197479