Ptilinum
Definition
An inflatable frontal sac on the newly eclosed adult blow fly, used to burst through the puparial operculum and push through soil. It deflates after emergence and the resulting crease (the ptilinal suture) is visible on the adult head as a permanent scar.
Related terms
- Accumulated Degree Hours (ADH)
- A temperature-corrected measure of developmental time. Calculated by summing (hourly ambient temperature minus the species-specific base temperature threshold) across the period of...
- Base Temperature
- The species-specific temperature below which development effectively ceases. For most forensically relevant blow fly species this is in the range of 2-10...
- Instar
- A developmental stage between moults (ecdysis). Blow flies have three larval instars (L1, L2, L3), each ending when the larva sheds its...
- Posterior Spiracles
- The paired breathing openings at the hind end of a blow fly larva. Their slit count and sclerotisation state are the primary...
- Pupariation
- The process by which the third-instar larva contracts and hardens its own cuticle to form the puparial case (puparium) that encloses the...
Explained in
- The Blow Fly Life Cycle: Egg to AdultAn inflatable frontal sac on the newly eclosed adult blow fly, used to burst through the puparial operculum and push through soil. It deflates after emergence...