Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Catalog Of The World Species Of Trichodesma Leconte, 1861 (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) And Associated Genera, Kyle E. Schnepp

Insecta Mundi

A catalog of the species of Trichodesma LeConte (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) for the world is provided, including synonyms and misspellings. Six additional genera, Anobiopsis Fall, Belemia Español, Nanodesma Zahradník, Nicobium LeConte, Trichobiopsis White, and Trichodesmina Español, are also cataloged for com­pleteness. The species name, author, year, and page number of description are given for each species, as well as references for combinations by different authors. The type depository is given when known, and followed by a “?” when unknown but suspected, and a general distribution is given by region of the world followed by country. Authorship of the genus Trichodesma in …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of The Forensically Significant Blow Flies Of Los Angeles County, California, United States (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Royce T. Cumming

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Forensic entomology although not a commonly used discipline in the forensic sciences, does have its niche and when used by investigators is respected in crinimolegal investigations (Greenberg and Kunich, 2005). With many species of forensically significant insects being regionally specific, it is often difficult for forensic entomologists to as confidently translate regionally specific studies across drastically differing geographic regions (Brundage, et al., 2011).

The purpose of this study is to help create a better temporal and geographic distributional understanding of the blow fly species present in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Twenty-five locations from four ecoregions (coastal mountains, urban, …

Density And Mass Effect On The Development Of Phormia Regina, Brandon H. Strauss

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Forensic entomology is the application of the study of arthropods to the criminal justice system. This is primarily done through the development of a post mortem interval (PMI) based the insect evidence present. A practitioner must be able to determine the age of the insect through temperature data. One factor influencing the temperature dependent development is gregarious behavior. Current literature describes a faster development rate due to an increase in feeding efficiency and temperatures produced by this aggregate. However, there is very little literature defining a minimum number needed to induce this effect and little to none on it for …

Development Modeling Of Lucilia Sericata And Phormia Regina (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Amanda L. Roe

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The relationship between insect development and temperature has been well established and has a wide range of uses, including using blow flies for postmortem (PMI) interval estimations in death investigations. To use insects in estimating PMI, we must be able to determine the insect age at the time of discovery and backtrack to time of oviposition. Unfortunately, existing development models of forensically important insects are only linear approximations and do not take into account the curvilinear properties experienced at extreme temperatures. A series of experiments were conducted with two species of forensically important blow flies (Lucilia sericata and Phormia …