Geometric wing morphometrics for Chrysomya albiceps and C. megacephala identification (Diptera: Calliphoridae) from Venezuela

Calliphoridae is one of the families with the greatest number of species with forensic importance, which immature stages feed and develop on decaying material. In Venezuela, there are few studies on this taxon reporting the dominance of Chrysomya over other carrion flies. The goal of this study was to analyze the variations on wing morphometrics, to support the identification of two forensic flies. For this we photographed a total of 168 wings from C. albiceps (n=111) and C. megacephala (n=57). Landmark coordinate (x, y) configurations were registered and aligned by Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Principal Component Analysis and shape significance test based on Procrustes distance were implemented. Statistical analysis of variance found significant differences in wing isometric size (Kruskal-Wallis). The PCA showed the separation between species, and shape test showed significant differences (F Goodall's). The main differences between both species were localized on subcosta rupture, join of R₂₊₃ with wing border, join of dm-cu, and join of Cu with bm-cu, suggesting that wing morphometrics is a suitable tool in the discrimination of blowfly species.