Abai, MR

6th International Congress of DipterologyTaxonomic Studies of the genus Protocalliphora (Diptera:Calliphoridae) in North AmericaWhitworth, T.L.2533 Inter Avenue, Puyallup, Washington, USA 98372Protocalliphora are obligate bloodsucking parasites of nestling birds.Adults are rarely encountered in museum collections; however, these fliesand their immatures commonly infest birds’ nest. This paper reviewsdevelopments in the taxonomy of the group and methods to facilitate theirreliable identification. Two main areas are addressed.1. The taxonomic status of the genus in North America was unclear untilit was revised by Sabrosky, Bennett and Whitworth (1989). In thatwork my colleagues and I identified 15 new species of the genus byrearing specimens from bird nests and matching males, females andpuparia. I outline here the approaches taken in this work and ourcurrent taxonomic understanding of the genus.2. Since empty puparia are readily collected in old bird nests, suchpuparia can potentially expand our knowledge of the group. To this end,since 1995, I have solicited networks of birders via the internet to sendme nests. To date, I have received over 6000 nests, in addition to over2000 nests that I have collected myself. About one-half the nests wereinfested with Protocalliphora thus providing a large quantity ofmaterial for study.A variety of useful puparial characters have been identified from thesespecimens including size, shape, and distribution of spines and ridges inthe stigmatal, dorsal and ventral regions. By comparing specimens frommany geographic areas I was able to create a puparial key to 27 species;three new species have also recently been described.Key Words: Calliphoridae, Protocalliphora, puparial keys, bird nests298