Identification of Muscidae (Diptera) of medico-legal importance by means of wing measurements

Abstract

Cadavers attract numerous species and genera of Muscidae, both regular elements of carrion insect assemblages, and accidental visitors. Identification of adult Muscidae may be considered difficult, particularly by non-experts. Since species identification is a vital first step in the analysis of entomological material in any forensic entomology orientated experiment and real cases, various alternative methods of species identification have been proposed. We investigated possibility of semiautomated identification by means of wing measurements as an alternative for classic morphology and DNA-based approaches. We examined genus-level identification success for 790 specimens representing 13 genera of the most common European cadavers visiting Muscidae. We found 99.8% of examined specimens correctly identified to the genus-level. Without error, the following were identified: Azelia, Eudasyphora, Graphomya, Hydrotaea, Musca, Muscina, Mydaea, Neomyia, Polietes, Stomoxys and Thricops. Genus-level misidentifications were found only in Helina and Phaonia. Discrimination of examined material on the species level within Hydrotaea (318 specimens representing eight species) and Muscina (163 specimens representing four species) showed lower, yet still high average identification success, 97.2 and 98.8%, respectively. Our results revealed relatively high success in both genus and species identification of Muscidae of medico-legal importance. Semiautomated identification by means of wing measurements can be used by non-experts and does not require sophisticated equipment. This method will facilitate the identification of forensically relevant muscids in comparison to more difficult and more time-consuming identification approaches based on taxonomic keys or DNA-based methods. However, for unambiguous identification of some taxa, we recommend complementary use of identification keys.

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

“…This key will assist entomologists on the African continent to use flies in forensic cases and push forward the use of forensic entomology in Africa, as well as the fields of public health and human and veterinary medicine. Further taxonomic research should focus on the alternative morphological methods of identification of adult flies [ 61 , 62 ] and identification of preimaginal instars, as it is systematically implemented on other continents [ 63 , 64 ]. This will facilitate large-scale research on spatial and seasonal distribution of forensically important flies in different African countries that is crucial for future forensic work.…”

Technical note: A technique to mount Sarcophagidae and Calliphoridae (Diptera) larvae for forensic identification using geometric morphometrics

“…Although published research on the shape analysis of wings and genitalia of adult flies are plentiful [e.g. [18] , [19] , [20] ], geometric morphometrics using the acephalic cephalopharyngeal skeleton of muscomorpha larvae is limited to the work of Nunez and Liria [ 4 ], which does not include a standard protocol for ensuring shape conformation, rather, relying on techniques like those presented by Ferrar [ 5 ]. Here we establish a protocol for the clearing, flattening, and mounting of sarcophagid and calliphorid larval mouthparts for subsequent use in two-dimensional geometric analysis of muscomorpha larvae.…”

Comparative Analysis of Molecular Identification and Wing Morphometrics of Forensically Important Blow Flies in China

“…As an alternative approach, the use of landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis of insect wings has shown to be a valuable tool in many studies following early work by Brown [23]. Wing morphometrics has been increasingly popular in studies of Diptera, demonstrating the species identi cation value in Syrphidae [24] and forensically important families like Muscidae [25] and Sarcophagidae [26]. It has been proved that wing morphometrics can be used for the identi cation of necrophagous Calliphoridae from Thailand [27] and Europe [28], and distinguish different genus and species of Calliphoridae, Cochliomyia [29], Lucilia [23,30] and Chrysomya [29,31].…”