scholarly journals Conditioned discrimination in the blow fly,Phormia regina: Controls and bidirectional selection

1984 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 402-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Zawistowski ◽  
Jerry Hirsch
Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 280
Author(s):  
Krystal R. Hans ◽  
Sherah L. Vanlaerhoven

Estimates of the minimum post-mortem interval (mPMI) using the development rate of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are common in modern forensic entomology casework. These estimates are based on single species developing in the absence of heterospecific interactions. Yet, in real-world situations, it is not uncommon to have 2 or more blow fly species developing on a body. Species interactions have the potential to change the acceptance of resources as suitable for oviposition, the timing of oviposition, growth rate, size and development time of immature stages, as well as impacting the survival of immature stages to reach adult. This study measured larval development and growth rate of the blow flies Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826), Phormia regina (Meigen, 1826) and Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera: Calliphoridae) over five constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, 35 °C), in the presence of conspecifics or two-species heterospecific assemblages. Temperature and species treatment interacted such that L. sericata larvae gained mass more rapidly when in the presence of P. regina at 20 and 30 °C, however only developed faster at first instar. At later stages, the presence of P. regina slowed development of L. sericata immatures. Development time of C. vicina immatures was not affected by the presence of P. regina, however larvae gained mass more slowly. Development time of P. regina immatures was faster in the presence of either L. sericata or C. vicina until third instar, at which point, the presence of L. sericata was neutral whereas C. vicina negatively impacted development time. Phormia regina larvae gained mass more rapidly in the presence of L. sericata at 20 °C but were negatively impacted at 25 °C by the presence of either L. sericata or C. vicina. The results of this study indicate that metrics such as development time or larval mass used for estimating mPMI with blow flies are impacted by the presence of comingled heterospecific blow fly assemblages. As the effects of heterospecific assemblages are not uniformly positive or negative between stages, temperatures or species combinations, more research into these effects is vital. Until then, caution should be used when estimating mPMI in cases with multiple blow fly species interacting on a body.


1960 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1229-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kasting ◽  
A. J. McGinnis

The production of C14O2 by third-instar larvae of the blow fly, Phormia regina Meig., after it was injected with glutamic acid-U-C14, indicates that this substrate was metabolized under these conditions. However, the nutritionally essential amino acids lysine, phenylalanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, and threonine, isolated from the injected larvae, contained little radioactivity. A low level of radioactivity in arginine, histidine, and methionine suggests that they were slowly synthesized. The nutritionally non-essential amino acids alanine, serine, aspartic acid, and proline contained large quantities of radioactivity; tyrosine and glycine were exceptions. These results, in agreement with earlier work that used glucose-U-C14, show that radioactivity data are useful for determining certain of the nutritionally essential amino acids.


2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 994-1005
Author(s):  
Justine E Giffen-Lemieux ◽  
Koji Okuda ◽  
Jennifer Y Rosati ◽  
Rabi A Musah

Abstract The attraction of necrophagous insects, particularly blow flies, to corpses and carrion is of ecological, economic, and agricultural importance, although the mechanisms by which it occurs are not well understood. Much of the published research on blow fly attractants has focused on volatiles emitted from carrion surrogates, but little attention has been given to the possibility that blow fly eggs themselves may emit chemical cues that are responsible for conspecific and heterospecific insect attraction. In this study, the headspace volatiles emitted from eggs representing two aggregated oviposition events that were collected 1 mo apart from two species of the Calliphoridae family (Order: Diptera), Lucilia sericata (Meigen), and Phormia regina (Meigen) were analyzed via solid-phase microextraction-facilitated GC-MS. The volatiles’ profiles were found to be consistent between samples representing the same species, but unique between the two species. Over 100 molecules covering a wide range of compound classes that included alcohols, aldehydes, esters, amines, ketones, and organosulfur compounds were identified. The profile of volatiles emitted from the L. sericata eggs contained several alkanes and aldehydes, whereas salient features of the P. regina headspace included numerous esters and ketones. Between the two species, 42 compounds were shared, several of which were carboxylic acids. Little overlap between the range of compounds detected and those reported to be emitted from decomposing remains was observed.


1960 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1229-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kasting ◽  
A. J. McGinnis

The production of C14O2 by third-instar larvae of the blow fly, Phormia regina Meig., after it was injected with glutamic acid-U-C14, indicates that this substrate was metabolized under these conditions. However, the nutritionally essential amino acids lysine, phenylalanine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, and threonine, isolated from the injected larvae, contained little radioactivity. A low level of radioactivity in arginine, histidine, and methionine suggests that they were slowly synthesized. The nutritionally non-essential amino acids alanine, serine, aspartic acid, and proline contained large quantities of radioactivity; tyrosine and glycine were exceptions. These results, in agreement with earlier work that used glucose-U-C14, show that radioactivity data are useful for determining certain of the nutritionally essential amino acids.


1985 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Goddard ◽  
Paul K. Lago

Blow fly succession on carrion was investigated in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Phaenicia caeruleiviridis, Phormia regina and Cochliomyia macellaria were dominant species from April through September and Cynomyopsis cadaverina, P. regina and Calliphora livida dominated during the cooler months (October through March). Although both fish and mammalian carrion were used, and baits were placed in different habitats, no differences between types of bait and types of habitat were observed. The use of P. caeruleiviridis and C. cadaverina as postmortum indicators is discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J Babcock ◽  
Jennifer L Pechal ◽  
M Eric Benbow

Abstract Necrophagous insects play an important role in the decomposition of vertebrate carrion. The documented colonization, development, and succession of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and other arthropods on decomposing carcasses make their communities relevant for use in decomposition ecology and forensic investigations. This relevance relies on the local pool of species available to colonize a carcass, but such community level survey data are not always available. The objective of this research was to conduct a baseline survey of adult Calliphoridae communities from urban–rural land use types in the Great Lakes region. To test how adult blow fly distribution varies with changing landscape in Mid-Michigan, sampling with baited jars and hanging traps was implemented over the summer months of June, July, and August 2017. To determine how blow fly communities differed in urban to rural land cover, seven cities were selected with site locations ranging from high intensity developed areas to cultivated crop fields. Over 97,000 individual flies were captured represented by 11 Calliphoridae species. The adult Calliphoridae communities were primarily structured by land use type and month of collection, with these two factors interacting, suggesting that the effect of location varied by time of year. The two most abundant species, Phormia regina (Meigen) and Lucilia sericata (Meigen), cumulatively comprised 88.5% adult flies from Mid-Michigan. These findings provide a baseline database of Great Lakes Calliphoridae, with potential use in forensic research and casework.


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