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Postfeeding Larval Dispersal Behavior of Late Season Blow Flies (Calliphoridae) in Southern Ontario, Canada
Author(s) -
Turpin Chantal,
Kyle Christopher,
Beresford David V.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12469
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , larva , calliphoridae , chrysomya megacephala , biology , ecology , habitat , pupa , lucilia , zoology , demography , population , sociology
Postfeeding dispersal involves migration of larvae away from their food source in order to pupate. Puparia are difficult to find, yet are important for estimating PMI , and missing puparia during collection can result in inaccurate estimations. This study investigates the late season maggot dispersal patterns for blow flies at coyote carcasses in two habitats with an aim to improving puparia collection procedures. Puparia samples collected from various dispersal distances and directions tested the spatial distribution patterns of the various species using the variance/mean ratio ( VMR ). L ucilia illustris was the most common species to emerge, with a preferred minimum dispersal distance of more than 50.8 cm and an overall VMR value of 14.91, indicating this species had a clumped distribution pattern. These findings highlight that current collection procedures that use random sampling from under carcasses do not adequately account for the spatial distribution of larvae.