Indiana News

Prof Makes Rare FInd: Flesh-eating fly in Indiana…

  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ An Indiana biology professor's discovery of a corpse-eating fly that seldom ventures this far north shows how erratic weather is affecting species and could impact forensic entomologists' work.
 
  IUPUI professor Christine Picard found the Chrysomya megacephala Fabricius on a warm afternoon last September when she put rotten chicken into a container and waited for flies to descend.
 
  The Indianapolis Star reports the fly seldom travels as far north as Indiana. It is now the lone specimen of its kind in the Purdue University Entomological Collections.
 
  Experts say last summer's high heat likely led the fly to come further north. The species hasn't been found yet in this year's cooler weather.
 
  The flies are found on corpses, and their life cycle can indicate when a person died.

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