Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
J Med Entomol. 2020 Jul 4;57(4):987-993. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjaa021.
Variation in resource utilization plays a significant role in determining the success or failure of a species. Generalist species across numerous taxa have exhibited success in feeding strategies for a variety of reasons. This study investigated the colonization and oviposition habits of a generalist carrion-feeder, Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), to varying conditions of carrion decay and colonization. Oviposition treatments consisted of combinations of variably aged decaying rats, both uncolonized and colonized with a heterospecific carrion-feeder. The black soldier fly exhibited a greater preference for oviposition on aged carrion, regardless of carcass colonization status. However, when presented with the option to colonize a plant-based diet, there was a significantly greater (40.4%) oviposition response to this diet. Results of this study highlight the ability of the black soldier fly to colonize fresh or aged carrion with or without a primary colonizer present, further supporting the recognition of this species as a generalist. These data demonstrate potential inaccuracies in the utility of H. illucens as time of colonization indicator species for legal investigations, and, in some regard, can be considered an exploitative niche-specialist (i.e., relying on plant-carrion interface for immature development) when found in association with carrion.
资源利用的变化在决定一个物种的成败中起着重要作用。由于多种原因，许多类群中的广食性物种在觅食策略上都取得了成功。本研究调查了一种广食性腐肉性昆虫——Hermetia illucens L.（双翅目：Stratiomyidae）在不同腐肉分解和定植条件下的定殖和产卵习性。产卵处理包括不同年龄的腐烂老鼠的组合，既有未定植的，也有与异源腐肉性昆虫定植的。黑蝇表现出对老龄腐肉更强烈的产卵偏好，而不管尸骸定植状态如何。然而，当提供植物性饮食的定植选择时，对这种饮食的产卵反应明显增加（40.4%）。本研究的结果突出了黑蝇定植新鲜或老龄腐肉的能力，无论是否有主要定植者存在，进一步支持了将该物种识别为广食性的认识。这些数据表明，在法律调查中，H. illucens 作为定植指示物种的实用性可能存在不准确，而且在某些方面，当与腐肉相关时，它可以被视为一种掠夺性的生态位专门化物种（即，依赖于植物-腐肉界面进行未成熟发育）。
