Body Size and Cuticular Hydrocarbons as Larval Age Indicators in the Forensic Blow Fly, Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera: Calliphoridae)
Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann 1819) is one of the most important insects in forensic entomology. Its larval developmental and survival rates are influenced by nutritional resources, temperature, humidity, and geographical regions. The present study investigated the possibility of relying on body size and cuticular hydrocarbon composition as indicators for age estimation of the different larval instars of C. albiceps. Larvae were maintained in standardized laboratory conditions at different experimental temperatures. All larval instars (first, second, and third) were randomly collected for measuring their body sizes and for estimating their cuticular hydrocarbons at different rearing temperatures (30, 35, 40, and 45°C) using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Results indicated that the duration of larval stage was temperature dependent as it gradually decreased on increasing the rearing temperature (30, 35, and 40°C) except 45°C at which larval development was ceased. In contrary, larval body size, in terms of length, width, and weight, was temperature dependent as it gradually increased with larval development on increasing rearing temperature except at 45°C at which larval development was ceased. The GC–MS showed a significant difference in the extracted components of cuticular hydrocarbons between different larval instars reared in the same temperature and between the same larval instar that reared at different temperatures. Furthermore, the highest and lowest amounts of cuticular hydrocarbons were detected at 35 and 40°C, respectively. Overall, larval body size and cuticular hydrocarbon components were temperature dependent within the range 30–40°C, which may suggest them as possible reliable age indicators for estimating the postmortem interval in the field of medicolegal entomology.
Dry reforming of methane (DRM) over an Ni-based catalyst is an innovative research
area due to the growing environmental awareness about mitigating global warming gases (CH4
and CO2…
In this paper, chitosan/Fe3O4/graphene oxide hydrogel was synthesized then modified with 2,6-pyridinedicarbonyl dichloride to obtain a novel composite hydrogel.
In this paper, the hydrothermal method was utilized for the facile synthesis of copper chromite nanoparticles in the absence (abbreviated as CC1) and presence of citric acid (abbreviated as CC2)…