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Facultative myiasis of domestic cats by Sarcophaga argyrostoma (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Calliphora vicina and Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in northern Italy

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Abstract

We describe five cases of myiasis of domestic cats, Felis silvestris catus L. (Carnivora: Felidae), reported in 2016 in northern Italy and caused by three Diptera species: Sarcophaga argyrostoma (Robineau-Desvoidy) (Sarcophagidae), Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy and Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Calliphoridae). Three were cases of traumatic myiasis, one by S. argyrostoma and two by L. sericata, one was a case of auricular myiasis by C. vicina and one was a case of ophthalmomyiasis caused by an association of L. sericata and C. vicina. The myiasis by S. argyrostoma is the first reported case of this species in a cat, whereas the two myiases by C. vicina are the first reported cases in cats in Italy.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Dr. Michele Donegatti and Dr. Giovanna Azzini (University Library System, Ferrara) for valuable help providing bibliographic references. This study was carried out with the financial support of “Consorzio Futuro in Ricerca” (Ferrara, Italy), code n. LEIS34/16, assigned to Marilena Leis. The manuscript is dedicated to the loving memory of Mr. Riccardo Marcucci.

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Correspondence to Marco Pezzi.

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Pezzi, M., Whitmore, D., Bonacci, T. et al. Facultative myiasis of domestic cats by Sarcophaga argyrostoma (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Calliphora vicina and Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in northern Italy. Parasitol Res 116, 2869–2872 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5582-z

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