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Species identification of adult African blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance.

ABSTRACT: Necrophagous blowflies can provide an excellent source of evidence for forensic entomologists and are also relevant to problems in public health, medicine, and animal health. However, access to useful information about these blowflies is constrained by the need to correctly identify the flies, and the poor availability of reliable, accessible identification tools is a serious obstacle to the development of forensic entomology in the majority of African countries. In response to this need, a high-quality key to the adults of all species of forensically relevant blowflies of Africa has been prepared, drawing on high-quality entomological materials and modern focus-stacking photomicroscopy. This new key can be easily applied by investigators inexperienced in the taxonomy of blowflies and is made available through a highly accessible online platform. Problematic diagnostic characters used in previous keys are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Lutz L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5919996 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Species identification of adult African blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance.

Lutz Lena L Williams Kirstin A KA Villet Martin H MH Ekanem Mfon M Szpila Krzysztof K

International journal of legal medicine 20170828 3

Necrophagous blowflies can provide an excellent source of evidence for forensic entomologists and are also relevant to problems in public health, medicine, and animal health. However, access to useful information about these blowflies is constrained by the need to correctly identify the flies, and the poor availability of reliable, accessible identification tools is a serious obstacle to the development of forensic entomology in the majority of African countries. In response to this need, a high ...[more]

PMID: 28849264

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Project description:Medicolegal entomology-a subfield of forensic entomology-is mainly used in medicolegal investigations to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI). The minimum PMI of a corpse invaded by necrophagous immature insects can be estimated because the PMI is near to or earlier than the oviposition time of the larvae that hatched and fed on the corpse. As the growth speeds of larvae differ depending on temperature and species, species-specific growth data are used to estimate the minimum PMI. While morphological identification of adult necrophagous flies can be done by a well-trained entomologist, identification of larvae is relatively difficult. Larvae can only be identified up to the family level and developmental stage by observing the posterior spiracles. For these reasons, the molecular biology method of DNA barcoding has been developed. DNA barcoding that targets the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene is commonly used. COI sequences are currently acquired using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Sanger sequencing, which are too time-consuming and complex for practical use in medicolegal investigations. To compensate for these limitations and facilitate the use of entomology for medicolegal investigation, we designed a multiplex real-time PCR system to identify nineteen forensically important species of Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae flies collected in South Korea. In contrast to the Sanger nucleotide sequencing process, this technology only requires a one-step real-time PCR with melt curve analysis of amplicons generated by primers targeting species-specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Multiplex real-time PCR was performed for twelve species of Calliphoridae (four reactions) and for seven species of Sarcophagidae (three reactions). This assay is expected to make it easier and faster for investigating authorities to identify major species of necrophagous flies at beginning of investigation and to increase the utilization of entomological evidence in forensic investigations.

Project description:This study is about the inter- and intra-specific genetic diversity of trypanosomatids of the genus Angomonas, and their association with Calliphoridae (blowflies) in Neotropical and Afrotropical regions. Microscopic examination of 3,900 flies of various families, mostly Calliphoridae, revealed that 31% of them harbored trypanosomatids. Small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) barcoding showed that Angomonas predominated (46%) over the other common trypanosomatids of blowflies of genera Herpetomonas and Wallacemonas. Among Angomonas spp., A. deanei was much more common than the two-other species, A. desouzai and A. ambiguus. Phylogenetic analyses based on SSU rRNA, glycosomal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) and internal transcribed spacer rDNA (ITS rDNA) sequences revealed a marked genetic diversity within A. deanei, which comprised four infraspecific genotypes (Dea1-Dea4), and four corresponding symbiont genotypes (Kcr1-Kcr4). Host and symbiont phylogenies were highly congruent corroborating their co-divergence, consistent with host-symbiont interdependent metabolism and symbiont reduced genomes shaped by a long coevolutionary history. We compared the diversity of Angomonas/symbionts from three genera of blowflies, Lucilia, Chrysomya and Cochliomyia. A. deanei, A. desouzai, and A. ambiguus were found in the three genera of blowflies in South America. In Africa, A. deanei and A. ambiguus were identified in Chrysomya. The absence of A. desouzai in Africa and its presence in Neotropical Cochliomyia and Lucilia suggests parasite spillback of A. desouzai into Chrysomya, which was most likely introduced four decades ago from Africa into the Neotropic. The absence of correlation between parasite diversity and geographic and genetic distances, with identical genotypes of A. deanei found in the Neotropic and Afrotropic, is consistent with disjunct distribution due to the recent human-mediated transoceanic dispersal of Angomonas by Chrysomya. This study provides the most comprehensive data gathered so far on the genetic repertoires of a genus of trypanosomatids found in flies from a wide geographical range.

Dataset Information

Species identification of adult African blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance.

Publications

Species identification of adult African blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance.

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