Habitat

The blowfly C. vicina is present in all sorts of habitats.  These blowflies have been theorized to have origins roaming across the whole Holarctic region (Davies & Harvey 2012).  The Holarctic region is essentially the northern half of the world.  It consists of most of North America, nearly all of Eurasia, Northern Africa, and the land around the North Pole like Greenland (Encyclopedia Britannica 2013). 

These blowflies are very associated with humans, or in other words they are “synanthropic” (Natural History Museum Online, 2013).  Furthermore they are considered an invasive species.  They have already followed mankind into South America, the Afrotropical region, Northern India, Australia, and New Zealand (Natural History Museum Online, 2013).  

 Farming and herding of animals has been a leading hypothetical factor in explaining why C. vicina and other blowflies have been following humans across the globe (Olea & Mariluis 2013).  The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) located in South America is a great example of one of these herded animals.  Check out http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/sanderfo_ange/ as a source for further education on the Alpaca.

Although the genus of Calliphora is best represented in the Holarctic regions and the Australian regions, now after following mankind, its members can also be found in all zoogeographical regions (Olea & Mariluis 2013) which consists of: the Palearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical regions (Holt et al. 2013).

A huge carcass available to the bluebottle fly and its relatives, especially at the specie's hypothesized roots of the holarctic region (Marshall et al. 20110), is the moose (Alces alces).  The moose is an awesome organism.  It is, on a side note, my second favorite species, behind the mountain lion of course.  To find out more about this giant go to http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/hautala_gavi/.

 Within the whole array of regions that the bluebottle blowfly C. vicina can be found they can be further narrowed down to cosmopolitan habitats (Davies & Harvey 2012).  In fact in a study conducted of London, C. vicina accounted for 46.9 percent of all Dipteran species present.  Of the family Calliphoridae, this species is the most urbanized.  It is actually rare for C. vicina to be found in rural areas where their close relative’s C. vomitoria are prevalent (Hwang & Turner 2005).

In a recent study conducted by (Olea & Mariluis 2013) it was illustrated again that this species is mainly in urban habitats.  C. vicina was found to be widely distributed in Argentina and frequently located in urbanized areas of houses and markets.  Interestingly though, no records showed them above 800 miles above sea level.  This study and others like (Marshall et al. 2011) have brought about theories regarding possible a maximum altitude for which these organisms can inhabit.

As far as the best time to find these blowflies, it is evident that these blowflies hibernate during the winter months.  There is a gradual decrease in sightings as the month of December approaches.  And vice versa, as the warmer months come about they are found more commonly (Hwang & Turner 2005).

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