Species Sarcophaga melanura

Sarcophaga melanura Meigen, 1826

Species name means "black tail." Species of Sarcophaga are often red-tailed.

Introduced to eastern North America

"Perhaps the best known and biologically most-diverse species in the subgenus Helicophagella is Sarcophaga (Helicophagella) melanura Meigen. It occurs widely in the Holarctic, extending northward to the Arctic Circle and south to the northern parts of the Orient, with preference for shrubland. Adults feed at flowers, faeces and decaying organic matter, and, being strongly synanthropic, is regarded as a vector of bacteria and helminths of human health significance. Larvae of S. melanura are mostly coprophagous, and less frequently necrophagous. Additionally the larvae have been recorded as saprophagous and parasitoid in insects, and as agents of myiases in birds and mammals. S. melanura has been reported as a facultative parasitoid of Arion hortensis de Férussac (Arionidae) and Cantareus aspersus (Müller) (Helicidae)." (Barker, G. M. 2004. Natural Enemies of Terrestrial Molluscs. CABI.)