The adult fly typically will feed on flowers, but the females need some sort of carrion protein in order to breed and lay eggs.

Due to the predictable nature of development, L. illustris is often used by forensic entomologists to determine time and place of death.

Segment 11 is characterized by two or three rows of dark spines as a posterior border on the dorsal side.

The species' sex ratio is generally equal, but around an egg laying vector, the females can be found in masses.

[4] Upon hatching, L. illustris enters its larval stages of development, commonly called a maggot.

As in other green bottle fly species, their larvae are carrion feeders and will generally infest any decomposing corpse.

If the maggot mass is successfully identified, tissue loss from the corpse can also be used to determine which instar the larvae are in.

[6] In ideal conditions, an adult L. illustris fly will emerge from the pupa on an average of 10 days.

Hence, blow flies are the primary means of estimating a time of death in case work.

[8] For example, the body of a young, white female was found on a roadside in the northeastern part of the United States.

Upon review, entomologists determined the woman had been killed about five days prior to her discovery and that the body had been placed in that location close to the time of death based upon the samples recovered at the scene.

He was later found hanged in a motel with a suicide note that stated he committed the homicide five days prior in the location the body was discovered.

[9] Lucilia illustris larvae have been shown to be a mechanical vector of Clostridium botulinum at levels high enough to cause sickness and even death in pheasants.

L. illustris can cause outbreaks of C. botulinum in avian production practices by spreading the bacteria from previously infected carrion to live pheasants.

Dispersal from the infected carrion by third instar larvae to pupate can spread the bacteria into other pens of animals.

More than 5000 larvae have been known to colonize a single carcass, which is theoretically enough maggots to completely infect a moderately sized game pheasant with C.

Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT) uses specially selected fly larvae for the cleansing of non-healing wounds.

The blowfly larvae infest the nests, sucking the blood of the nestlings injuring and possibly killing them.