Salimi et al. Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences (2018) 8:28 Egyptian Journal of https://doi.org/10.1186/s41935-018-0060-z Forensic Sciences

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Open Access Temperature requirements for the growth of immature stages of blowflies species, albiceps and vicina, (Diptera:) under laboratory conditions Mojtaba Salimi1, Yavar Rassi1*, Mohamadali Oshaghi1, Omid Chatrabgoun2, Mojtaba Limoee3 and Sayena Rafizadeh4

Abstract Background: In forensic , a way to estimate Post Mortem Interval (PMI) is to use development data of the first colonizing on a dead body. Chrysomya albiceps and , two members of the family Calliphoridae, are the first waves of necrophagous insects that are the most entomologically important species because of its consistent time of arrival and colonization of the body following death. Regarding the bioclimatic, environmental conditions and difference in geographic population, it seems necessary to collect data about the forensically important species in each region. In this research, the growth rate of immature stages of C. albiceps and C.vicina was studied in controlled laboratory conditions. Results: The results of this study showed that with increasing temperature, the duration of development was reduced. The highest period of development, for both species, is related to pupae stage and involves about half of the entire development period. The amount of Accumulated Degree Days (ADD) for the egg stage to mature of the species C. vicina, at two temperatures of 15°C and 20°C, are calculated as 416 and 396 DD, respectively. Conclusion: This study showed, temperature had significant effects on rate of the development on Chrysomya albiceps and Calliphora vicina and the amount of heat energy needed to development for these species is specific. Actually, the relationship between the development rate and temperature was significant and dependent to species and geographical regions. Keywords: Forensic, Calliphoridae, , Temperature,

1. Background colonizing species. Succession data are mostly used for When a dead body is discovered, the main question is to the cases in which a long time has been spent on death find the time spent on death. This question can be an- while development data are mostly used for the cases in swered in two ways using entomology data: first, using which a short time has been spent on death. Studies the succession data of ’s taxa that have time and have shown that insect development is directly related food preferences and are changed based on the stage to environmental data such as temperature and humid- corpse putrefaction; and second, using the development ity. Degree day model using development data of ne- data of the oldest and largest of the first crophagous insect on the carcass particularly first colonizers and environmental data such as temperature * Correspondence: [email protected] can be estimate the time of death (Kumara et al., 2017; 1Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Bansode et al., 2016; Chua, 2013). As a microhabitat, the Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences(TUMS), Tehran, Iran corpse is used differently by the insects that colonize the Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

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