Infestation of an owl (Bubo bubo) with Lucilia spp.

Myiasis is an infestation of tissue with the larval stage of dipterous flies. This condition mostly affects the skin but may also occur in certain body cavities. It can occur in either animals or humans and is caused by parasitic dipterous fly larvae feeding on the host's necrotic or living tissue. This disease rarely effects birds especially owls. In this study, infestation of an owl with cutaneous myiasis is reported. In October 2008, a wounded owl was referred by the environmental department of Chaharmahal–Bakhtiary province to the clinic of veterinary science at Shahrekord University in west central Iran. At the initial examination, clinical signs were extensive with a wound under the right wing. The wound was infested with 40 white conical maggots, 3–9 mm in length, which led to a diagnosis of myiasis in the owl. The maggots were carefully collected from the wound using sterile forceps and were kept in 70% ethanol and transferred to the laboratory of parasitology where the diagnosis was undertaken by the observation of posterior and anterior spiracle and cephalopharyngeal apparatus. According to key diagnostic features for maggots in birds, the larvae were identified as Lucilia sericata and Lucilia cuprina (Diptera: Calliphoridae). The wound was treated using usual acaricides, but due to the severity of the infestation and because of the delay in referring the animal to the clinic, it died 3 days post-treatment. This is the first report in Iran of an infestation of the Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) with L. sericata and L. cuprina (Diptera: Calliphoridae).