The karyotype of the forensically important flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Mini Review

Abstract

Maggots of flesh flies were known as one of the main players in the depletion of earthily decomposed remains. They colonized the carrion few minutes after death, and were known as the initial colonizers in several research papers. In consequence, they could be used in the minimum post-mortem intervals (PMImini) estimation. Also, some sarcophagid species proved capable of detecting several toxins/ drugs in carcasses in the entomotoxicological research. The difficulty to identify sarcophagid females and larvae hindered their role as entomological evidence. Cytogenetics would aid in the identification of the immatures and their sex; the differentiation between adult species; and/ or the categorization of the taxa. Sarcophagidae received little attention concerning their karyotype measurements, especially in Egypt where there is only one unpublished thesis (El-Bassiony 2001). This mini review listed the previous studies and findings on sarcophagid’s karyotypes, especially the solitary data from Egypt.