It is widely held that blow flies, in general, and Phoenicia sericata (Meigen), in particular, are
not active at night and do not lay eggs during that time. P. sericata is thought to require
sunlight and warmth for oviposition. Three common and forensically important flies—
Calliphora vicina (Robineau-Desvoidy), P. sericata, and Phormia regina (Meigen)—
oviposited during the dark hours of the night during the summers of 1988 and 1989.
Nocturnal oviposition can alter the usual estimate of the postmortem interval in homicide …

Published research has offered contradictory evidence of the occurrence of nocturnal
oviposition by carrion-breeding blowflies, a behavior that can affect the interpretation of
forensic estimates of a minimum post mortem interval (min PMI) by up to 12 hours,
depending on latitude and season. The majority of published studies are from the northern
hemisphere. Field experiments were conducted in South Africa and Australia that extend
observations to species of the southern hemisphere. Various vertebrate carrion was …