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Calliphora

Genus of flies

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated May 21, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Calliphora is a genus of blow flies, also known as bottle flies, found in most parts of the world, with the highest diversity in Australia. The most widespread species in North America are Calliphora livida, C. vicina, and C. vomitoria.

Calliphora, meaning "bearer of beauty", was first formally named in 1830 by Jean-Baptiste Robineau-Desvoidy. It is the type genus of the family Calliphoridae.

01Description

Adults of Calliphora have a grey or black thorax, the colour dulled by a heavy microtomentum. The abdomen is metallic blue (rarely purple or green) and sometimes also dulled by microtomentum. The suprasquamal ridge is bare or with inconspicuous fine setae only. The first flagellomere of the antenna is more than twice the length of the pedicel.

Larvae have two posterior spiracles with a thick and unbroken peritreme, and (like other Calliphoridae larvae) containing straight slits. There is an accessory sclerite between the mouth hooks, though this is not visible in whole larvae.

Larvae exoskeleton of Calliphora erythrocephala. The two posterior spiracles are to the right. Darker mouth hooks are to the left. The lava is stretched out on the microscope slide to about 16.5mm long,
Larvae exoskeleton of Calliphora erythrocephala. The two posterior spiracles are to the right. Darker mouth hooks are to the left. The lava is stretched out on the microscope slide to about 16.5mm long,

02Species

Species in the genus Calliphora include:

Watch videos about CalliphoraExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Calliphora”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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