Top

Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology

Published in:

01-12-2015 | Original Article

The effect of temperature on development of Sarconesia chlorogaster, a blowfly of forensic importance

Authors: Melise Cristine Lecheta, Patricia Jacqueline Thyssen, Mauricio Osvaldo Moura

Published in: Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology | Issue 4/2015

Abstract

Purpose

The blowfly Sarconesia chlorogaster (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is of limited forensic use in South America, due to the poorly known relationship between development time and temperature. The purpose of this study was to determine development time of S. chlorogaster at different constant temperatures, thereby enabling the forensic use of this fly.

Methods

Development time of this species was examined by observing larval development at six temperatures (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 °C). The thermal constant (K), the minimum development threshold (t ₀), and development rate were calculated using linear regressions of the development time interval at five temperatures (10–30 °C).

Results

Development interval from egg to adult varied from 14.2 to 95.2 days, depending on temperature. The t₀ calculated for total immature development is 6.33 °C and the overall thermal constant is 355.51 degree-days (DD). Temperature affected the viability of pupae, at 35 °C 100 % mortality was observed.

Conclusion

Understanding development rate across these temperatures now makes development of S. chlorogaster a forensically useful tool for estimating postmortem interval.

Amendt J, Campobasso CP, Gaudry E, Reiter C, LeBlanc HN, Hall MJR. Best practice in forensic entomology—standards and guidelines. Int J Legal Med. 2007;121:90–104.CrossRefPubMed

Amendt J, Richards CS, Campobasso CP, Zehner R, Hall MJR. Forensic entomology: applications and limitations. Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2011;7:379–92.CrossRefPubMed

Gunn A. Essential forensic biology. Chichester: Wiley; 2006.

Moura MO, de Carvalho CJB, Monteiro-Filho ELA. A Preliminary analysis of insects of medical-legal importance in Curitiba, State of Paraná. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 1997;92:269–74.PubMed

Centeno N, Maldonado M, Oliva A. Seasonal patterns of arthropods occurring on sheltered and unsheltered pig carcasses in Buenos Aires Province (Argentina). Forensic Sci Int. 2002;126:63–70.CrossRefPubMed

Horenstein MB, Arnaldos MI, Rosso B, García MD. Estudio preliminar de la comunidad sarcosaprófaga em Córdoba (Argentina): aplicación a la entomología forense. An Biol. 2005;27:191–201.

Souza ASB, Kirst FD, Krüger RF. Insects of forensic importance from Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil. Rev Bras Entomol. 2008;52:641–6.CrossRef

Horenstein MB, Linhares AX, Ferradas BR, García D. Decomposition and dipteran succession in pig carrion in central Argentina: ecological aspects an their importance in forensic science. Med Vet Entomol. 2010;24:16–25.CrossRefPubMed

Vairo KP, Corrêa RC, Lecheta MC, Caneparo MF, Mise KM, Preti D, et al. Forensic use of a subtropical blowfly: the first case indicating minimum post-mortem interval (mPMI) in Southern Brazil and first record of Sarconesia chlorogaster from a human corpse. J Forensic Sci. 2015;60:S257–60.CrossRefPubMed

10.

de Carvalho CJB, Ribeiro PB. Chave de identificação das espécies de Calliphoridae (Diptera) do sul do Brasil. Rev Bras Parasitol Vet. 2000;9:169–73.

11.

James MT. Family calliphoridae. In: Papavero N, editor. A catalogue of the Diptera of the Americas South of the United States. São Paulo: Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo; 1970. P. 102.1–28.

12.

Dear JP. A revision of the Toxotarsinae (Diptera, Calliphoridae). Pap Avulsos Zool. 1979;32:145–82.

13.

Ikemoto T, Takai K. A new linearized formula for the law of total effective temperature and the evaluation of line-fitting methods with both variables subject to error. Environ Entomol. 2000;29:671–82.CrossRef

14.

Bonatto SR. Ciclo de vida de Sarconesia chlorogaster (Wiedemann) (Diptera, Calliphoridae, Toxotarsinae), criada sob condições de laboratório em dieta artificial. Rev Bras Zool. 1996;13:685–706.CrossRef

15.

Wells JD, Lecheta MC, Moura MO, LaMotte LR. An evaluation of sampling methods used to produce insect growth models for postmortem interval estimation. Int J Legal Med. 2015;129:405–10.CrossRefPubMed

16.

Greenberg B, Szyska ML. Immature stages and biology of fifteen species of Peruvian Calliphoridae (Diptera). Ann Entomol Soc Am. 1984;77:488–517.CrossRef

17.

Queiroz SMP, de Almeida JR, de Carvalho CJB, Dudas L. Bionomia de Sarconesia chlorogaster (Wiedemann, 1830) (Diptera, Calliphoridae) em Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil. An Soc Entomol Bras. 1985;14:105–10.

18.

Krüger RF, Kirst FD, Souza ASB. Rate of development of forensically-important Diptera in southern Brazil. Rev Bras Entomol. 2010;54:624–9.CrossRef

19.

Estrada DA, Grella MD, Thyssen PJ, Linhares AX. Taxa de desenvolvimento de Chrysomya abiceps (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) em dieta artificial acrescida de tecido animal para uso forense. Neotrop Entomol. 2009;38:203–7.CrossRefPubMed

20.

Rabêlo KCN, Thyssen PJ, Salgado RL, Araújo MSC, Vasconcelos SD. Bionomics of two forensically important blowfly species Chrysomya megacephala and Chrysomya putoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae) reared on four types of diet. Forensic Sci Int. 2011;210:257–62.CrossRefPubMed

21.

Kipyatkov VE, Lopatina EB. Intraspecific variation of thermal reaction norms for development in insects: new approaches and prospects. Entomol Rev. 2010;90:163–84.CrossRef

22.

Higley LG, Haskell NH. Insect development and forensic entomology. In: Byrd JH, Castner JL, editors. Forensic entomology: the utility of arthropods in legal investigations. 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2010. p. 389–406.

23.

Hurlbert SH. Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecol Monogr. 1984;54:187–211.CrossRef

24.

Tryon WW. Evaluating statistical difference, equivalence, and indeterminacy using inferential confidence intervals: an integrated alternative method of conducting null hypothesis statistical tests. Psychol Methods. 2001;6:371–86.CrossRefPubMed

25.

Steidl RJ, Thomas L. Power analysis and experimental design. In: Scheiner SM, Gurevitch J, editors. Design and analysis of ecological experiments. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2001. p. 14–36.

26.

R Development Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. 2011. ISBN 3-900051-07-0. http://www.R-project.org.

27.

Grassberger M, Reiter C. Effect of temperature on Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) development with special reference to the isomegalen- and isomorphen-diagram. Forensic Sci Int. 2001;120:32–6.CrossRefPubMed

28.

Grassberger M, Reiter C. Effect of temperature on development of the forensically important holarctic blow fly Protophormia terraenovae (Robineau-Desvoidy) (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Forensic Sci Int. 2002;128:177–82.CrossRefPubMed

29.

Donovan SE, Hall MJR, Turner BD, Moncrieff CB. Larval growth rates of the blowfly, Calliphora vicina, over a range of temperatures. Med Vet Entomol. 2006;20:106–14.CrossRefPubMed

30.

Richards CS, Villet MH. Factors affecting accuracy and precision of thermal summation models of insect development used to estimate post-mortem intervals. Int J Legal Med. 2008;122:401–8.CrossRefPubMed

31.

Richards CS, Villet MH. Data quality in thermal summation development models for forensically important blowflies. Med Vet Entomol. 2009;23:269–76.CrossRefPubMed

32.

Boatright SA, Tomberlin JK. Effects of temperature and tissue type on the development of Cochliomyia macellaria (Diptera: Calliphoridae). J Med Entomol. 2010;47:917–23.CrossRefPubMed

33.

Gosselin M, Charabidze D, Frippiat C, Bourel B, Gosset D, Rasmont P. Development time variability: adaptation of Régnière’s method to the intrinsic variability of Belgian Lucilia sericata (Diptera, Calliphoridae) population. J Forensic Res. 2010;1:109.CrossRef

34.

Tarone AM, Picard CJ, Spiegelman C, Foran DR. Population and temperature effects on Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) body size and minimum development time. J Med Entomol. 2011;48:1062–8.CrossRefPubMed

35.

Wilson LT, Barnett WW. Degreedays: an aid in crop and pest management. Calif Agric. 1983;37:4–7.

36.

Gennard DE. Forensic entomology: an introduction. Chichester: Wiley; 2007.

37.

Campobasso C, Introna F. Reply: commentary on letter to the editor from Jeffrey Wells. J Med Entomol. 2014;51:492–4.CrossRefPubMed

Title: The effect of temperature on development of Sarconesia chlorogaster, a blowfly of forensic importance
Authors: Melise Cristine Lecheta
Patricia Jacqueline Thyssen
Mauricio Osvaldo Moura
Publication date: 01-12-2015
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology / Issue 4/2015
Print ISSN: 1547-769X
Electronic ISSN: 1556-2891
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-015-9727-z

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

Springer Medicine

The effect of temperature on development of Sarconesia chlorogaster, a blowfly of forensic importance

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 4/2015

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy associated with rupture of the left ventricular apex: assessment of histopathological features of a fatal case and literature review

Dentures in dementia: the oral health management of patients in institutional care

Validation of adequate endogenous reference genes for reverse transcription-qPCR studies in human post-mortem brain tissue of SIDS cases

Chronic occupational N, N-dimethylformamide poisoning induced death: a case report

Identifying suspects by matching hand photographs with video evidence

Fatal diphenidol poisoning: a case report and a retrospective study of 16 cases