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Development models of necrophilous beetle Creophilus maxillosus (L.) (Staphylinidae) – comparison of efficiency in estimation of immature insect age

Katarzyna Frątczak-Łagiewska

Abstract

The development of necrophilous beetles with demonstrated utility in forensic entomology is poorly studied. Creophilus maxillosus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a predatory beetle that regularly visits large vertebrate cadavers in natural habitats. As part of my doctoral dissertation, the following objectives were achieved: 1) development, comparison and partial validation of temperature models for development of C. maxillosus, 2) determination of the effect of the food type on mortality, body size and development time of this species, 3) testing whether there is a relationship between the total immature development time and the sex or size of adult beetles, and whether these features can help to more accurately estimate the age of beetles at the end of development, 4) testing whether multiple, in vivo measurements of beetles affect their development. Total development time ranged between 122 days at 15 °C and 22 days at 30 °C. Larvae fed with larvae of N. littoralis showed a very high mortality and no beetles reached the adult stage. The lowest mortality was observed when the C. maxillosus larvae were fed with blow fly larvae, regardless of their genus. Results demonstrated that males developed significantly longer than females. Despite these differences, the validation study showed just minimal and statistically insignificant differences in the accuracy of age estimates using sex-specific and general thermal summation models. Using beetle length at emergence as a predictor variable and male or female specific models regressing K against beetle size significantly improved the accuracy of age estimation for this species. Measured beetles developed longer than non-measured beetles. The accuracy of age estimates was significantly higher while using the model for the non-measured beetles.
Record ID
UAMcd22e8c8500a4d46a319a215aaa0dd1e
Diploma type
Doctor of Philosophy
Author
Title in Polish
Modele rozwoju chrząszcza nekrofilnego Creophilus maxillosus (L.) (Staphylinidae) – porównanie ich skuteczności w szacowaniu wieku form preimaginalnych
Title in English
Development models of necrophilous beetle Creophilus maxillosus (L.) (Staphylinidae) – comparison of efficiency in estimation of immature insect age
Language
eng (en) English
Certifying Unit
Wydział Biologii [nowa struktura organizacyjna] (SNP/WB)
Scientific discipline (2.0)
6.4 biological sciences
Status
Finished
Year of creation
2021
Start date
21-04-2017
Defense Date
06-05-2021
Title date
28-05-2021
Supervisor
Honored
yes
URL
https://hdl.handle.net/10593/26260 Opening in a new tab
Keywords in English
forensic entomology; development models; Creophilus maxillosus; Staphylinidae; validation
Abstract in English
The development of necrophilous beetles with demonstrated utility in forensic entomology is poorly studied. Creophilus maxillosus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a predatory beetle that regularly visits large vertebrate cadavers in natural habitats. As part of my doctoral dissertation, the following objectives were achieved: 1) development, comparison and partial validation of temperature models for development of C. maxillosus, 2) determination of the effect of the food type on mortality, body size and development time of this species, 3) testing whether there is a relationship between the total immature development time and the sex or size of adult beetles, and whether these features can help to more accurately estimate the age of beetles at the end of development, 4) testing whether multiple, in vivo measurements of beetles affect their development. Total development time ranged between 122 days at 15 °C and 22 days at 30 °C. Larvae fed with larvae of N. littoralis showed a very high mortality and no beetles reached the adult stage. The lowest mortality was observed when the C. maxillosus larvae were fed with blow fly larvae, regardless of their genus. Results demonstrated that males developed significantly longer than females. Despite these differences, the validation study showed just minimal and statistically insignificant differences in the accuracy of age estimates using sex-specific and general thermal summation models. Using beetle length at emergence as a predictor variable and male or female specific models regressing K against beetle size significantly improved the accuracy of age estimation for this species. Measured beetles developed longer than non-measured beetles. The accuracy of age estimates was significantly higher while using the model for the non-measured beetles.

Uniform Resource Identifier
https://researchportal.amu.edu.pl/info/phd/UAMcd22e8c8500a4d46a319a215aaa0dd1e/
URN
urn:amu-prod:UAMcd22e8c8500a4d46a319a215aaa0dd1e

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