Weatherbee Courtney R, Pechal Jennifer L, Stamper Trevor, Benbow M Eric
Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, 243 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Department of Entomology, Purdue University, 901 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Insects. 2017 Apr 4;8(2):40. doi: 10.3390/insects8020040.
Common forensic entomology practice has been to collect the largest Diptera larvae from a scene and use published developmental data, with temperature data from the nearest weather station, to estimate larval development time and post-colonization intervals (PCIs). To evaluate the accuracy of PCI estimates among Calliphoridae species and spatially distinct temperature sources, larval communities and ambient air temperature were collected at replicate swine carcasses (N = 6) throughout decomposition. Expected accumulated degree hours (ADH) associated with and third instars (presence and length) were calculated using published developmental data sets. Actual ADH ranges were calculated using temperatures recorded from multiple sources at varying distances (0.90 m-7.61 km) from the study carcasses: individual temperature loggers at each carcass, a local weather station, and a regional weather station. Third instars greatly varied in length and abundance. The expected ADH range for each species successfully encompassed the average actual ADH for each temperature source, but overall under-represented the range. For both calliphorid species, weather station data were associated with more accurate PCI estimates than temperature loggers associated with each carcass. These results provide an important step towards improving entomological evidence collection and analysis techniques, and developing forensic error rates.
常见的法医昆虫学做法是从现场收集最大的双翅目幼虫，并利用已发表的发育数据以及最近气象站的温度数据，来估计幼虫发育时间和定殖后间隔时间（PCIs）。为了评估丽蝇科物种之间以及空间上不同温度来源的PCIs估计的准确性，在整个分解过程中，在重复设置的猪尸体（N = 6）上收集幼虫群落和环境空气温度。使用已发表的发育数据集计算与第二和第三龄幼虫（存在情况和长度）相关的预期累积度日数（ADH）。实际ADH范围是使用从距离研究尸体不同距离（0.90米 - 7.61千米）的多个来源记录的温度计算得出的：每个尸体处的个体温度记录器、一个当地气象站和一个区域气象站。第三龄幼虫在长度和丰度上差异很大。每个物种的预期ADH范围成功涵盖了每个温度来源的平均实际ADH，但总体上低估了范围。对于这两种丽蝇科物种，气象站数据与比每个尸体处的温度记录器更准确的PCIs估计相关。这些结果为改进昆虫学证据收集和分析技术以及制定法医错误率迈出了重要一步。
