Ciência e Tecnologia Veterinária

Avian Wound Myiasis Caused by Calliphora vicina Robineau–Desvoidy (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in an Immature Migrating Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila Heliaca Savigny) (Aves: Accipitridae) in Southwestern Iran

Abstract

Mehrdad Parchami-Araghi, Farshad Eskandari, Ebrahim Gilasian

We captured an injured immature Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca Savigny) on the outskirts of the city of Alvan (south of city of Shoush) in the Iranian southwestern province of Khuzestan in February 2014. The young bird had been leg-ringed at the nestling stage in Kazakhstan in June 2013 before setting off on its migration towards southern parts of Iran. The eaglet was suffering from a deep fracture in its left wing leading to an extensive necrotic wound, which was heavily infested by maggots (fly larvae). The examination of internal cephalopharyngeal skeleton and external morphological characters of the third-instar larvae, including posterior spiracles, led to the identification of the blow fly species of Calliphora vicina Robineau–Desvoidy. This is the first report of myiasis in a vulnerable wild bird species in Iran and the first recorded infestation of an Eastern Imperial Eagle by the facultative myiasis agent C. vicina in the world.