A Rare Case of Human Residual Root Myiasis Caused by Clogmia Albipunctata Larvae(Diptera: Psychodidae)

Background: Clogmia albipunctata is cosmopolitan in distribution. The adult flies can survive and spread outdoors during the temperate seasons while continuously breeding in buildings during the winter months. Because they are non-biting, tiny and quite, most of people do not pay special attention to them. It is the first case reported that Clogmia albipunctata larvae cause human residual root myiasis.Case presentation: In December 2020, a 26-year-old woman was referred from Kaifeng New District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital to the Department of Pathogenic Biology, Medical College of Henan University with chief complaint that two active alive larvae were found in the mouth while brushing her teeth in the morning. The intraoral examination revealed nice oral hygiene and no larvae was found directly. The right second mandibular molar was a residual root and the mucosa above it was mild erythematous and edematous and no bleeding on probing was present. While some 50℃ normal saline was injected in the residual root with syringe, four larvae swarmed out from the residual root. The larvae were observed by naked eyes and light microscope and the larvae were reared. One adult fly was got 11 days later. They were identified as Clogmia albipunctata larvae. Because the patient was in lactation, medication was not recommended. Treatment included the removal of all visible larvae followed by debridement. The patient was followed-up for 1 month and healed. The patient’s residual root myiasis was associated with sleeping with the mouth open and the smell of rotten food in the residual root attracted Clogmia albipunctatus to lay eggs in the residual root.Conclusions: This report implies that even if the oral hygiene is nice in general, the existence of residual roots maybe results in oral myiasis. The myiasis caused by Clogmia albipunctata larvae should be paid attention to. It is necessary to treat residual roots in time.

Unnoticed arrival of two dipteran species in Austria: the synanthropic moth fly Clogmia albipunctata (Williston, 1893) and the parasitic bird louse fly Ornithoica turdi (Olivier in Latreille, 1811)

In the framework of a mosquito-monitoring program conducted from 2014 to 2018, non-culicid dipteran bycatch was identified to species-level with a focus on Diptera of medical and veterinary importance as part of a biodiversity initiative and barcoding project (“Austrian Barcode of Life”). Two species hitherto not known from Austria, the regularly sampled synanthropic moth fly Clogmia albipunctata (Psychodidae) and a single specimen of the louse fly Ornithoica turdi (Hippoboscidae), were collected in Vienna and Lower Austria. We confirmed identification results using a barcoding approach and provide the first reference sequence for O. turdi.

tarsal-less is expressed as a gap gene but has no gap gene phenotype in the moth midge Clogmia albipunctata

Gap genes are involved in segment determination during early development of the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster and other dipteran insects (flies, midges and mosquitoes). They are expressed in overlapping domains along the antero-posterior (A–P) axis of the blastoderm embryo. While gap domains cover the entire length of the A–P axis in Drosophila, there is a region in the blastoderm of the moth midge Clogmia albipunctata , which lacks canonical gap gene expression. Is a non-canonical gap gene functioning in this area? Here, we characterize tarsal-less ( tal ) in C. albipunctata . The homologue of tal in the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (called milles-pattes, mlpt ) is a bona fide gap gene. We find that Ca-tal is expressed in the region previously reported as lacking gap gene expression. Using RNA interference, we study the interaction of Ca-tal with gap genes. We show that Ca-tal is regulated by gap genes, but only has a very subtle effect on tailless (Ca-tll), while not affecting other gap genes at all. Moreover, cuticle phenotypes of Ca-tal depleted embryos do not show any gap phenotype. We conclude that Ca-tal is expressed and regulated like a gap gene, but does not function as a gap gene in C. albipunctata .

tarsal-less is expressed as a gap gene but has no gap gene phenotype in the moth midge Clogmia albipunctata

Gap genes are involved in segment determination during early development of the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster and other dipteran insects (flies, midges, and mosquitoes). They are expressed in overlapping domains along the antero-posterior (A–P) axis of the blastoderm embryo. While gap domains cover the entire length of the A–P axis in Drosophila, there is a region in the blastoderm of the moth midge Clogmia albipunctata, which lacks canonical gap gene expression. Is a non-canonical gap gene functioning in this area? Here, we characterize tarsal-less (tal) in C. albipunctata. The homolog of tal in the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (called milles-pattes, mlpt) is a bona fide gap gene. We find that Ca-tal is expressed in the region previously reported as lacking gap gene expression. Using RNA interference, we study the interaction of Ca-tal with gap genes. We show that Ca-tal is regulated by gap genes, but only has a very subtle effect on tailless (Catll), while not affecting other gap genes at all. Moreover, cuticle phenotypes of Ca-tal depleted embryos do not show any gap phenotype. We conclude that Ca-tal is expressed and regulated like a gap gene, but does not function as a gap gene in C. albipunctata.