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Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae)

Forensic entomologists frequently use a developmental method to estimate a post-mortem interval (PMI). Such estimates are based usually on the blow fly larvae or puparia. Data on their development is obtained by rearing them in colonies. In the case of beetles, which can be also useful for PMI estim...

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Autores principales: Gruszka, Joanna, Matuszewski, Szymon
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8635339/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34852020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260680
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author Gruszka, Joanna
Matuszewski, Szymon
author_facet Gruszka, Joanna
Matuszewski, Szymon
author_sort Gruszka, Joanna
collection PubMed
description Forensic entomologists frequently use a developmental method to estimate a post-mortem interval (PMI). Such estimates are based usually on the blow fly larvae or puparia. Data on their development is obtained by rearing them in colonies. In the case of beetles, which can be also useful for PMI estimation, development data is frequently collected by rearing them individually. However, some carrion beetles are gregarious, for instance, Necrodes littoralis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Silphidae). We compared mortality, rate of development and body size of emerged adult beetles reared individually and in aggregations. Mortality was much higher for beetles reared individually, particularly at low temperatures. The rearing protocol affected the time of immature development and the size of adult insects. Individually reared specimens developed much longer at 16°C, whereas at 20°C and 26°C development times of individually reared beetles were slightly shorter. Significant differences in the body size were observed only at 16°C; beetles that developed in aggregations were larger at this temperature. These findings demonstrate that aggregating is particularly beneficial for larvae of N. littoralis at low temperatures, where it largely reduces mortality and facilitates growth. Moreover, these results indicate that in forensic entomology the protocol of individual rearing is unsuitable for gregarious beetles, as it produces reference developmental data of low quality.
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spelling pubmed-86353392021-12-02 Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae) Gruszka, Joanna Matuszewski, Szymon PLoS One Research Article Forensic entomologists frequently use a developmental method to estimate a post-mortem interval (PMI). Such estimates are based usually on the blow fly larvae or puparia. Data on their development is obtained by rearing them in colonies. In the case of beetles, which can be also useful for PMI estimation, development data is frequently collected by rearing them individually. However, some carrion beetles are gregarious, for instance, Necrodes littoralis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Silphidae). We compared mortality, rate of development and body size of emerged adult beetles reared individually and in aggregations. Mortality was much higher for beetles reared individually, particularly at low temperatures. The rearing protocol affected the time of immature development and the size of adult insects. Individually reared specimens developed much longer at 16°C, whereas at 20°C and 26°C development times of individually reared beetles were slightly shorter. Significant differences in the body size were observed only at 16°C; beetles that developed in aggregations were larger at this temperature. These findings demonstrate that aggregating is particularly beneficial for larvae of N. littoralis at low temperatures, where it largely reduces mortality and facilitates growth. Moreover, these results indicate that in forensic entomology the protocol of individual rearing is unsuitable for gregarious beetles, as it produces reference developmental data of low quality. Public Library of Science 2021-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8635339/ /pubmed/34852020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260680 Text en © 2021 Gruszka, Matuszewski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gruszka, Joanna
Matuszewski, Szymon
Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae)
title Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae)
title_full Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae)
title_fullStr Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae)
title_full_unstemmed Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae)
title_short Insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: Benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis L. (Silphidae)
title_sort insect rearing protocols in forensic entomology: benefits from collective rearing of larvae in a carrion beetle necrodes littoralis l. (silphidae)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8635339/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34852020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260680
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