Identification of Three forensically Important Indian Species of Flesh Flies (diptera: Sarcophagidae) Based on Cytochrome Oxidase I Gene

The utility of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene has been tested for the identification of three species of forensically important flesh flies of the genus Parasarcophaga (Dipera: Sarcophagidae). A 450 bp fragment of the COI gene has been sequenced for 12 specimens, representing three species of Genus Parasarcophaga. Nucleotide divergences were calculated using Tamura 3 Parameter distance model. For graphical display of the patterns of divergence among the species Neighbor-joining and Parsimonious trees were also made using this software. Musca autumnalis was taken as outgroup in the phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequenced segments showed that all sarcophagid specimens were properly assigned into three species, which indicated the possibility of separating congeneric species with the help of short fragments