Refine
Document Type
- Article (3)
Language
- English (3)
Has Fulltext
- yes (3) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (3) (remove)
Keywords
- flesh flies (3) (remove)
Institute
Flesh flies (Sarcophagidae) are necrophagous insects initially colonizing on a corpse. The species-specific developmental data of the flies collected from a death scene can be used to estimate the minimum postmortem interval (PMImin). Thus, the first crucial step is to correctly identify the fly species. Because of the high similarity among species of flesh flies, DNA-based identification is considered more favorable than morphology-based identification. In this study, we demonstrated the effectiveness of combined sequences (2216 to 2218 bp) of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and II genes (COI and COII) for identification of the following 14 forensically important flesh fly species in Thailand: Boettcherisca nathani Lopes, Fengia ostindicae (Senior-White), Harpagophalla kempi (Senior-White), Liopygia ruficornis (Fabricius), Lioproctia pattoni (Senior-White), Lioproctia saprianovae (Pape & Bänziger), Parasarcophaga albiceps (Meigen), Parasarcophaga brevicornis (Ho), Parasarcophaga dux (Thomson), Parasarcophaga misera (Walker), Sarcorohdendorfia antilope (Böttcher), Sarcorohdendorfia inextricata (Walker), Sarcorohdendorfia seniorwhitei (Ho) and Seniorwhitea princeps (Wiedemann). Nucleotide variations of Thai flesh flies were evenly distributed throughout the COI-COII genes. Mean intra- and interspecific variations ranged from 0.00 to 0.96% and 5.22% to 12.31%, respectively. Using Best Match (BM) and Best Close Match (BCM) criteria, identification success for the combined genes was 100%, while the All Species Barcodes (ASB) criterion showed 76.74% success. Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian Inference (BI) phylogenetic analyses yielded similar tree topologies of monophyletic clades between species with very strong support values. The achieved sequences covering 14 forensically important flesh fly species including newly submitted sequences for B. nathani, F. ostindicae and S. seniorwhitei, can serve as a reliable reference database for further forensic entomological research in Thailand and in other areas where those species occur.
A taxonomic revision of the Australian species of Amobia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae: Miltogramminae) is completed using an integrated approach combining four molecular loci (three mitochondrial, COI, ND4 and CYTB; one nuclear, EF1α) and morphological data. A new species, Amobia (s. str.) serpenta sp. nov., endemic to Australia, is described, and Amobia auriceps (Baranov, 1935) and Amobia burnsi (Malloch, 1930) are re-described. Molecular data are used to reconstruct inter-specific and generic relationships and support morphological species hypotheses. Phylogenetic analysis places all three Australian Amobia species together with Amobia signata (Meigen, 1824) (a Palaearctic species) in a single clade sister to Senotainia Macquart, 1846 (in part), which is in agreement with previous phylogenetic studies of the Miltogramminae. In addition to the description of species and molecular phylogenetics, general host associations for the Australian species of Amobia are discussed and evidence for the synonymisation of A. pelopei (Rondani, 1859) and A. auriceps is refuted.
Eight new Neotropical species of Dexosarcophaga Townsend, 1917 are described, five from Brazil, Dexosarcophaga phoenix sp. nov., Dexosarcophaga jandainae sp. nov., Dexosarcophaga patiuorum sp. nov., Dexosarcophaga petra sp. nov., and Dexosarcophaga sphaera sp. nov., one from Costa Rica, Dexosarcophaga limon sp. nov., one from Ecuador, Dexosarcophaga napo sp. nov., and one from Colombia, Dexosarcophaga pallida sp. nov. Male and female morphology is documented with photographs and illustrations, including details of the male terminalia for all new species and female terminalia of Dexosarcophaga phoenix sp. nov. and Dexosarcophaga sphaera sp. nov. With the addition of these new species, 58 species of Dexosarcophaga are now known, with records from the American continent spanning from the southern United States to northern Argentina.