Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Exploring Life History Choices: Using Temperature and Substrate Type as Interacting Factors for Blowfly Larval and Female Preferences
Published on: November 17, 2023
Calliphora vicina larvae grow at different rates on different body tissues
Gajen Kaneshrajah1, Bryan Turner
1Department of Life Sciences, Forensic Science Unit, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building 150 Stamford St., SE1 9NN, London, UK.
Abstract:
Compared with the rate on pig's liver, larval growth of the blowfly, Calliphora vicina is significantly faster by as much as 2 days on lung, kidney, heart or brain tissue. Potentially this has major implications when laboratory growth rates of larvae fed on one food substrate (often liver) are used to calculate the amount of development, and therefore the postmortem interval in a forensic case.

