80 MISC. PUBLICATION 631, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



CORDYLOBIA ANTHROPOPHAGA Griinberg 



The Tumbu Fly ; Ver du Cayor 



(Fig. 38) 



Synonymy. — Infestation by this species has been erroneously recorded in some 

 earlier literature as due to Bcngalia depressa (Walker) ; the true B. depressa, 

 however, is quite another fly. 



Recognition Characteks. — Adult : This is a yellow fly with two blackish longi- 

 tudinal bands on the mesonotum and with the apices of the abdominal segments 

 more or less extensively darkened ; these markings are somewhat obscured by 

 the grayish pollen that covers them. Length, usually 8-10 mm., sometimes 

 smaller. Larva: The mature larva (fig. 39, A) is a robust, grublike yellowish- 

 white maggot, bluntly pointed anteriorly and truncate behind. The segments of 

 the body are transversely wrinkled on the dorsal and ventral sides, especially the 



Figure 38. — Cordylobia anthropophaga, adult male. 



latter, and are puckered laterally ; the third to eleventh segments are densely 

 covered with small spines usually arranged in transverse series in groups of 

 three or more. The posterior spiracle (fig. 40, B) lacks a sclerotized peritreme; 

 the slits are moderately sinuous ; the button is present. Length of mature larva, 

 about 12 mm. ; greatest width, about 5 mm. 



Geographical Distribution. — Ethiopian Region : French Sudan, Senegal, 

 Niger, French Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Dahomey, Nigeria, 

 Chad, Cameroun, Gabon, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Italian Somaliland, Belgian 

 Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Nyasaland, Mozambique, Northern 

 and Southern Rhodesia, South-West Africa, Transvaal, Natal. 



Biology and Pathogenesis. — Adults are frequently found indoors. 

 The eggs are deposited on soil or sand fouled with urine or with the 

 excrement of animals, on cloth, soiled bedding, and so forth. Each 

 female may produce 500 eggs or more. After about 2 days the larvae 

 hatch, penetrate the skin of the host if a suitable one can be contacted 

 in time, and thus form boillike tumors in the dermis. The usual three 

 larval instars are passed within the tumor and, about 8 to 9 days after 

 entering the body of the host, the mature larva leaves it and enters 

 the soil. After a prepupal period of about 2 days, pupation takes 



