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Erschienen in: International Journal of Legal Medicine 3/2018

21.12.2017 | Original Article

Revisited larval morphology of Thanatophilus rugosus (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

verfasst von: Martin Novák, Pavel Jakubec, Jarin Qubaiová, Hana Šuláková, Jan Růžička

Erschienen in: International Journal of Legal Medicine | Ausgabe 3/2018

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Abstract

Determination of insect species and their instars, occurring on human remains, is important information that allows us to use insects for estimation of postmortem interval and detect possible manipulation with the body. However, larvae of many common species can be identified only by molecular methods, which is not always possible. The instar determination is even more challenging, and qualitative characters that would allow a more precise identification are mostly unknown. Thanatophilus rugosus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a common necrophagous beetle in the whole Palaearctic region from Europe to Japan. The species is often encountered on corpses of large vertebrates including humans, and its potential to become a useful bioindicator for forensic entomology is therefore high. Adults can be easily distinguished from other species; however, larvae were never thoroughly described to allow species and instar identification. The aim of this study was to provide reliable morphological characters that would allow species and instar identification of T. rugosus larvae. The material for morphological study was obtained from rearing under controlled conditions (20 °C and 12:12 h of light/dark period), and specimens that were not studied morphologically were allowed to complete their development. Quantitative and qualitative morphological characters for instar and species identification are described and illustrated. Additionally, we report observations of biology and developmental length for all stages of the species.
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Metadaten
Titel
Revisited larval morphology of Thanatophilus rugosus (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
verfasst von
Martin Novák
Pavel Jakubec
Jarin Qubaiová
Hana Šuláková
Jan Růžička
Publikationsdatum
21.12.2017
Verlag
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erschienen in
International Journal of Legal Medicine / Ausgabe 3/2018
Print ISSN: 0937-9827
Elektronische ISSN: 1437-1596
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1764-6

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