Factors Affecting Species Identifications of Blow Fly Pupae Based upon Chemical Profiles and Multivariate Statistics

• NCJ Number: 255257
• Author(s): William Kranz; Clinton Carroll; Darren A. Dixon; John V Goodpaster; Christine J. Picard
• Date Published: 2017
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2013-DN-BX-K019
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: Species and age determination of blow fly pupae based upon headspace analysis

Annotation

This study assessed one biotic factor (colonization) on four species of blow flies to determine how well a model produced from lipid profiles of colonized flies predicted the species of flies of offspring of wild-caught flies and found very good species identification following 10 generations of inbreeding.

Abstract

Alternative methods for the identification of species of blow fly pupae have been developed over the years that consist of the analyses of chemical profiles; however, the effect of biotic and abiotic factors that could influence the predictive manner for the tests have not been evaluated. The lipids of blowfly pupae (Cochliomyia macellaria, Lucilia cuprina, Lucilia sericata, and Phormia regina) were extracted in pentane, derivatized, and analyzed by total-vaporization solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TV-SPME GC-MS). Peak areas for 26 compounds were analyzed. The evaluation of four abiotic factors in the fly rearing protocols (temperature, humidity, pupation substrate, and diet), found that the ability to assign the chemical profile to the correct species was greatly reduced. 8 tables, 5 figures, and 43 references (publisher abstract modified)