BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 19, Number 6, November 2018 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 2134-2139 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d190620 A checklist of medically important flies (Order: Diptera) in the central region of Thailand TANAWAT CHAIPHONGPACHARA 1,♥ , SEDTHAPONG LAOJUN 2 , NITIWOOT JONGVISUTTISAN 3 , PATCHARAPRON TUBSAMUT 3 , APICHAYA DASOM 3 1 College of Allied Health Science, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Samut Songkhram 75000, Thailand. Tel./fax. +66-835-865775, ♥ email: tanawat.ch@ssru.ac.th 2 Program of Public Health, College of Allied Health Sciences, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Samut Songkhram 75000, Thailand. 3 Program of Health Science, College of Allied Health Sciences, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Samut Songkhram 75000, Thailand Manuscript received: 28 September 2018. Revision accepted: 28 October 2018. Abstract. Chaiphongpachara T, Laojun S, Jongvisuttisan N, Tubsamut P, Dasom A. 2018. A checklist of medically important flies (Order: Diptera) in the central region of Thailand. Biodiversitas 19: 2134-2139. This study surveyed species of medically important flies in the central region of Thailand including Samut Songkram (coastal area representative), Bangkok (urban area representative), Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya (Lower alluvial area representative), Nakhon Sawan (upper alluvial area representative) and Sukhothai (mountainous area representative). This was done through a division of the central region into 5 areas, according to the landscape, including the coastal area, urban area, upper alluvial area, lower alluvial area and mountainous area. Flies were collected using insect nets and fly traps during July 2018. A total was 3872 adult flies, belonging to 4 subfamilies and 6 genera within 9 species were captured. The highest numbers of flies were found in the mountainous area, followed by coastal areas, upper alluvial area, urban area and lower alluvial area, respectively. All the study areas were within the central region of Thailand. The Chrysomya megacephala was the predominant species, with a total of 2953 adult flies captured. This was followed by the Musca domestica (n = 563), Achoetandrus rufifacies (n = 177) and Sacrophaga spp. (n = 137), respectively. The four species of flies collected in this study were Lucilia cuprina (n = 28), A. villeneuvi (n = 2), C. nigripes (n = 2) and Hemipygiopsis ligurriens (n = 2). The results of this study showed the distribution of flies, which is important information for diarrhoea vector control. Keywords: Checklist, Diptera, flies, Thailand INTRODUCTION Flies (Order: Diptera) are considered to be one of the medically important insects to humans. Globally, there are more than 120,000 species of flies (Service 2008). Flies can be mechanical vectors of enteric pathogens (Sukontason et al. 2007) including medically important bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus coagulase, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. and Campylobacter spp. (Barreiro et al. 2013; Nwe Oo et al. 1989; Khalil et al. 1994). They are also a major vector of important parasites, including protozoa, such as Entamoeba histolytica, Balantidium coli, Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium parvum (Graczyk et al. 2005; El-Sherbini and Gneidy 2012) and intestinal nematodes or soil-transmitted helminths (STH), such as Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm and Taenia spp. (Nyarango et al. 2008; Fetene and Worku 2009). There have also been reports that illustrate the ability of flies to carry the viruses and fungi to humans (Junqueira et al. 2017; Phoku et al. 2014). While, it is usually adult flies that are disease vectors, the larval stages of some species can also cause myiasis (Francesconi and Lupi, 2012; Akbarzadeh et al., 2018) Myiasis is the invasion of fly larvae, especially blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) into organs and tissues of humans or other vertebrate animals (Service 2008), feeding on the living or dead tissue and liquid body substances (Francesconi and Lupi 2012). In addition, the larvae of some fly species are also useful in forensic investigations (Joseph et al. 2011). In Thailand, there are 3 groups of medically important flies. These include the blowfly, house fly and flesh fly. The main problem with regards to these flies is that they are the major cause of diarrhea in Thailand. The annual epidemiological surveillance report of Thailand in 2017 showed that the morbidity rate was 1571.83 per 100,000 population, which amounted to a total of 1,038,349 cases (Ministry of Public Health 2017). However, this issue could be resolved through vector control actions, especially for the flies. They also affect tourism in Thailand, as the problem is viewed as a health hazard and portrays a bad image of the country’s sanitation (Greenberg 1971). The central region of Thailand covers the Chao Phraya River basin and is a region that is environmentally diverse, as it includes coastal areas, urban areas, river basins, mountainous areas, and forested areas. Consequently, these environmental differences affect the variety and density of animals (Milligan et al. 2009). The species of flies specific to the environment, such as Achoetandrus rufifacies, are found in the plains and at a very high altitude of 2100 m above sea level (Tumrasvin and Shinonaga 1978). Each