cheese skipper
Piophila casei latin

Oh, and there were cheese skippers."

Cheese skippers are maggots that jump.

"Cheese skippers.

This fly's larva infests cured meats, smoked fish, cheeses, and decaying animals and is sometimes called the cheese skipper for its leaping ability.

They feed on the meat-infesting larvae of Calliphora or blow flies, Dermestidae and cheese skippers.

In food production, certain cheese varieties, such as casu marzu, are exposed to flies known as cheese skippers, members of the family Piophilidae.

The mature larva is about 8 mm ( inch) long and is sometimes called the cheese skipper because of its leaping ability - when disturbed, this tiny maggot can hop some 15 cm (six inches) into the air.

For a fly maggot, the larvae of many species have an unusually well-developed ability to leap when alarmed or when abandoning their larval food to pupate; they accordingly may be known as cheese skippers or other kinds of skippers according to their food source.

The best-known member of the family is Piophila casei.

A female Piophila casei can lay more than five hundred eggs at one time.

Piophila casei (Linnaeus, 1758), the cheese fly.

Forensic entomology uses the presence of Piophila casei larvae to help estimate the date of death for human remains.

For example, goat-milk cheese is left to the open air until Piophila casei larvae are naturally laid in the cheese.

The most notorious member of the family is the cheese fly, Piophila casei; it is cosmopolitan, and a typical member of the Piophilidae.

However, Piophila casei is not the only piophilid species to attack human corpses, so caution is appropriate in identification of the species found and in interpretation of their significance.

Derived from Pecorino, casu marzu goes beyond typical fermentation to a stage most would consider decomposition, brought about by the digestive action of the larvae of the cheese fly Piophila casei.

Casu marzu is created by leaving whole Pecorino cheeses outside with part of the rind removed to allow the eggs of the cheese fly Piophila casei to be laid in the cheese.

In forensic entomology the presence of Piophila casei larvae may be useful in estimating the date of death for human remains because they do not take up residence in a corpse until three to six months after death.

Identification had to be made based on isolated body parts of an adult fly later identified as Piophila casei or more commonly known as the Cheese fly, which usually populate uncovered cadavers three to six months after death.

Piophila casei on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site (note that many of the images on this site show other species misidentified as Piophila casei)