Sarcophagal (sarkofaga)

[NL. (Meigen, 1826), fem. sing. of sarcophagus, flesh-eating: see sarcophagous.] A genus of dipterous insects, typical of the family Sarcophagidæ; the flesh-flies. They are large or small, moderately bristly species, recognizable from the lengthened three-striped scutellum and from cubical claret-colored spots on the abdomen. These flies are viviparous, and deposit living larvæ upon decaying animal substances. Some have been considered parasitic upon other insects, but probably they never oviposit upon living larvæ or pupæ. They have been known to breed in ulcerous sores upon man and other mammals. The species are numerous, over 50 inhabiting the United States. S. carnaria is the European flesh-fly, by some authors considered identical the North American S. similis, in which case the former is said to be cosmopolitan. See cut under flesh-fly. Sarcophaga2 (sär-kof'a-gä), n. pl. [NL., neut. pl. of sarcophagus: see sarcophagous.] In Owen's cla ification (1839), a division of marsupials, having teeth of three kinds and no cæcum, as the dasyures, and including a section of the carnivorous marsupials.