Evolutionary history of green bottle flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae: Luciliinae): Mid-Miocene divergence and the repeated evolution of parasitism

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Abstract The blowfly subfamily Luciliinae (Calliphoridae) represents a remarkable case of ecological diversification, with lineages exhibiting saprophagy, facultative parasitism, and obligate myiasis—a spectrum of trophic habits with profound forensic, veterinary, and evolutionary implications. Despite their significance, their origin and evolutionary trajectories remain poorly resolved, hindered by sparse molecular data and conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses. Phylogenetic relationships are reconstructed from the most comprehensive mitogenomic dataset of Luciliinae to date, leveraging 36 newly assembled mitochondrial genomes, including previously unsampled taxa such as Blepharicnema splendens and the Afrotropic endemic Lucilia infernalis. Analyses provide strong support for the paraphyly of Lucilia and reveal a highly conserved mitogenome structure. Divergence dating place early Luciliinae, including L. infernalis, in the Afrotropics (∼15–20 Mya), and ancestral-state reconstructions demonstrate saprophagy as the ancestral state with repeated transitions to parasitism. By integrating mitogenomics, phylogenetics, divergence dating, trait evolution, and historical biogeography, this study provides a unified framework for understanding Luciliinae evolution and has implied importance through refining species boundaries in forensic applications, climate-driven range predictions, and developing targeted pest-management strategies. To keep the genus Lucilia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 under a broad circumscription, it is proposed as senior synonym of Blepharicnema Macquart, 1844, syn. nov., Dyscritomyia Grimshaw, 1901, syn. nov., Hemipyrellia Townsend, 1918, syn. nov., and Hypopygiopsis Townsend, 1916, syn. nov.

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