Age determination of the adult blow fly Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) through quantitative pteridine fluorescence analysis

Determination of a minimal postmortem interval via age estimation of necrophagous diptera has been restricted to the juvenile stages and the time until emergence of the adult fly, i.e. up until 2–6 weeks depending on species and temperature. Age estimation of adult flies could extend this period by adding the age of the fly to the time needed for complete development. In this context pteridines are promising metabolites, as they accumulate in the eyes of flies with increasing age. We studied adults of the blow fly Lucilia sericata at constant temperatures of 16 °C and 25 °C up to an age of 25 days and estimated their pteridine levels by fluorescence spectroscopy. Age was given in accumulated degree days (ADD) across temperatures. Additionally, a mock case was set up to test the applicability of the method. Pteridine increases logarithmically with increasing ADD, but after 70–80 ADD the increase slows down and the curve approaches a maximum. Sex had a significant impact (p < 4.09 × 10⁻⁶) on pteridine fluorescence level, while body-size and head-width did not. The mock case demonstrated that a slight overestimation of the real age (in ADD) only occurred in two out of 30 samples. Age determination of L. sericata on the basis of pteridine levels seems to be limited to an age of about 70 ADD, but depending on the ambient temperature this could cover an extra amount of time of about 5–7 days after completion of the metamorphosis.