Blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) serve as dynamic bio-samplers, with their gut contents providing extensive information across various scientific disciplines. These flies can be utilized to evaluate biological and chemical environments, and when combined with an understanding of their dispersion dynamics, they become a potent tool for remote environmental sampling. Chemically, virtually any substance can be extracted from the gut of these flies and analyzed, with the persistence of these chemicals varying based on their structures. Biologically, the presence of vertebrates, plants, and microorganisms, ranging from humans to viruses, can be determined through a variety of methods. This capability has applications in forensic science, public health, security, ecology, and conservation biology. In forensic contexts, both larvae and adult blow flies can retain human DNA from decomposing tissues, aiding in individual identification. From a public health perspective, blow flies likely act as vectors for numerous pathogens, with their gut contents often harboring bacteria associated with gastrointestinal and diarrheal infections, such as the bacterium causing typhoid fever and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Analyzing these microbial signatures can inform strategies to mitigate disease transmission. Ecologically, examining blow fly gut contents can yield insights into local biodiversity. This presentation will examine the current state of knowledge and methodologies essential for comprehensively understanding the movement of these insects within their environment and for effectively sampling them as they sample the world around them. This knowledge underscores the importance of interdisciplinary research in unlocking the secrets held within these ubiquitous insects.
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