Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON N9B3P4, Canada.
J Med Entomol. 2013 Jul;50(4):898-906. doi: 10.1603/me12260.
Arthropod development can be used to determine the time of colonization of human remains to infer a minimum postmortem interval. The black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera. Stratiomyidae) is native to North America and is unique in that its larvae can consume a wide range of decomposing organic material, including carrion. Larvae development was observed on six resources: control poultry feed, liver, manure, kitchen waste, fruits and vegetables, and fish rendering. Larvae fed manure were shorter, weighed less, and took longer to develop. Kitchen waste produced longer and heavier larvae, whereas larvae fed fish had almost 100% mortality. Black soldier flies can colonize human remains, which in many instances can coincide with food and organic wastes. Therefore, it is necessary to understand black soldier fly development on different food resources other than carrion tissue to properly estimate their age when recovered from human remains.
节肢动物的发育情况可用于确定人类遗骸的埋葬时间，从而推断出最短的死后间隔时间。黑皮蠹（Hermetia illucens L.）原产于北美洲，其幼虫可以食用范围广泛的分解有机物质，包括腐肉，这一特点非常独特。在六种资源上观察到幼虫发育情况：对照家禽饲料、肝脏、粪便、厨余垃圾、水果和蔬菜以及鱼渣。以粪便为食的幼虫体型更短、体重更轻且发育时间更长。厨余垃圾产生的幼虫体型更长、体重更重，而以鱼为食的幼虫几乎全部死亡。黑皮蠹可以在人类遗骸上繁殖，而人类遗骸在很多情况下都与食物和有机废物同时存在。因此，有必要了解黑皮蠹在不同食物资源（除腐肉组织外）上的发育情况，以便在从人类遗骸中回收时正确估计其年龄。
