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Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Fly families such as Calliphoridae and Muscidae contribute to the decomposition of cadavers and play an important role in courtroom proceedings, in part because of the clues they provide to help determine the time of death. In forensic entomology studies, they are often sampled using...

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Autores principales: LeBlanc, Kathleen, Boudreau, Denis R., Moreau, Gaétan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003588/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33804635
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12030261
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author LeBlanc, Kathleen
Boudreau, Denis R.
Moreau, Gaétan
author_facet LeBlanc, Kathleen
Boudreau, Denis R.
Moreau, Gaétan
author_sort LeBlanc, Kathleen
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Fly families such as Calliphoridae and Muscidae contribute to the decomposition of cadavers and play an important role in courtroom proceedings, in part because of the clues they provide to help determine the time of death. In forensic entomology studies, they are often sampled using small bait traps containing a small amount of decomposing animal tissue. To determine whether the fly assemblages recovered by small bait traps are similar to those found on whole remains, we simultaneously documented the flies found on domestic pig carcasses and within small traps baited with pork liver. Results indicated that the fly assemblages found in the small bait traps and on the carcasses were different and reinforced the fact that caution should be exercised when data obtained from small bait traps are used in court. ABSTRACT: Small bait traps are beginning to emerge in forensic entomology as a new approach to sample early-colonizing necrophagous Diptera species while reducing the investment in time and energy in obtaining information. To test the hypothesis conveyed by the literature that these traps can be a substitute for whole carcasses, we simultaneously documented the Diptera assemblages visiting and colonizing domestic pig carcasses and small traps baited with pork liver. Results indicated that Diptera species occurrence and assemblage composition in the small bait traps and on the carcasses differed, while they were similar when comparing only the pig carcasses. These results are in agreement with the literature that examined insect colonization of other decaying substrates. Although small bait traps can be useful tools to document the communities of necrophagous Diptera in a given area, we stress that caution must be exercised when extending the data obtained by these traps to courtroom proceedings.
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spelling pubmed-80035882021-03-28 Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains LeBlanc, Kathleen Boudreau, Denis R. Moreau, Gaétan Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Fly families such as Calliphoridae and Muscidae contribute to the decomposition of cadavers and play an important role in courtroom proceedings, in part because of the clues they provide to help determine the time of death. In forensic entomology studies, they are often sampled using small bait traps containing a small amount of decomposing animal tissue. To determine whether the fly assemblages recovered by small bait traps are similar to those found on whole remains, we simultaneously documented the flies found on domestic pig carcasses and within small traps baited with pork liver. Results indicated that the fly assemblages found in the small bait traps and on the carcasses were different and reinforced the fact that caution should be exercised when data obtained from small bait traps are used in court. ABSTRACT: Small bait traps are beginning to emerge in forensic entomology as a new approach to sample early-colonizing necrophagous Diptera species while reducing the investment in time and energy in obtaining information. To test the hypothesis conveyed by the literature that these traps can be a substitute for whole carcasses, we simultaneously documented the Diptera assemblages visiting and colonizing domestic pig carcasses and small traps baited with pork liver. Results indicated that Diptera species occurrence and assemblage composition in the small bait traps and on the carcasses differed, while they were similar when comparing only the pig carcasses. These results are in agreement with the literature that examined insect colonization of other decaying substrates. Although small bait traps can be useful tools to document the communities of necrophagous Diptera in a given area, we stress that caution must be exercised when extending the data obtained by these traps to courtroom proceedings. MDPI 2021-03-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8003588/ /pubmed/33804635 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12030261 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
LeBlanc, Kathleen
Boudreau, Denis R.
Moreau, Gaétan
Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains
title Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains
title_full Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains
title_fullStr Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains
title_full_unstemmed Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains
title_short Small Bait Traps May Not Accurately Reflect the Composition of Necrophagous Diptera Associated to Remains
title_sort small bait traps may not accurately reflect the composition of necrophagous diptera associated to remains
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003588/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33804635
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12030261
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