Browsing by Author "Tabor, Kimberly L."

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    Effects of antemortem ingestion of ethanol on insect successional patterns and development of Phormia regina (Diptera : Calliphoridae)
    Tabor, Kimberly L.; Fell, Richard D.; Brewster, Carlyle C.; Pelzer, Kevin D.; Behonick, George S. (Oxford University Press, 2005-05-01)
    The effects of antemortem ingestion of ethanol by domestic pigs, Sus scrofa L., on postmortem insect successional patterns and the development of Phormia regina (Meigen) were studied during summer 2003 in Blacksburg, VA. Insect samples were collected from the carcasses of ethanol-treated and untreated pigs for 10 d postmortem during two successional studies. In total, 32 insect taxa were collected during the two studies, with 29 and 27 taxa observed on the carcasses of ethanol-treated and untreated pigs, respectively. The earliest arrivers to both carcass types were dipterans. This group was represented by six families, with P. regina and Phaenicia coeruleiviridis (Macquart) being the most common calliphorids. Beetles in six families were collected on the carcasses of ethanol-treated pigs, but only three of the families were collected on carcasses of the untreated pigs. Permutation analyses to test the null hypothesis of no similarity between successional patterns of insect taxa from carcasses of ethanol-treated and untreated pigs showed that the successional patterns were similar between carcass types in the first (P = 0.003) and the second (P = 0.01) studies. The results of the development study of P. regina maggots in the field show that there was a significant difference between the distributions of length for maggots reared on loin tissue from ethanol-treated and untreated pigs. Maggots that fed on tissue from ethanol-treated pigs took approximate to 11.9 11 longer to reach the pupal stage than maggots that fed on tissue from untreated pigs. The longer developmental time for maggots on tissue from ethanol-treated pigs was due mainly to the longer postfeeding period of the third instar.
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    Insect Faunal Succession and Development of Forensically Important Flies on Deer Carcasses in Southwest Virginia
    Wilson, James M. (Virginia Tech, 2012-12-10)
    Forensic entomology has become synonymous with medico-legal entomology and involves the use of insects in legal and criminal investigations.  Insects have been used as evidence in cases of wrongful death of humans and in wildlife poaching cases for many years.  The first jail time sentence for wildlife poaching in Manitoba, Canada was awarded after insect evidence was used to create a timeline for the crime.  In the interest of advancing the science of forensic entomology, insect faunal succession was studied on four white-tailed deer carcasses in southwest Virginia in the summers of 2009 and 2010.  The patterns of insect succession between the summers of 2009 and 2010 were similar at ± = 0.05.  Necrophagous insects arrived in a successional pattern as has been observed on other animal models (e.g. pigs) during past studies conducted in southwest Virginia.  To further explore the role of wildlife specific variables to forensic entomology, larvae of Phormia regina, Meigen, were reared on pork and venison in a laboratory at Virginia Tech.  Environmental rearing conditions were 30" C, 75% RH and 14:10 hour light dark cycle.  Significant differences in lengths of 3rd instar and combined overall maggot lengths were found for maggots reared on the different meat sources.  Mean adult weights and wing lengths of venison-reared flies were significantly greater than those reared on pork at ±=0.05.