Insects in forensic investigation

Lucilia cuprina is one of the forensically important Calliphoridae fly. L. cuprina is a helpful resource at the crime scenes as well as a nuisance to sheep. It is known to be one of the first flies to occupy a corpse upon its death. Due to this, it has great importance in forensic field to find out post-mortem interval. In this study,the development of L. cuprina is studied in an incubator at different constant temperatures. Larvae of the L. cuprina were reared in an incubator at 20ºC, 25ºC, 30ºC, 35ºC, and 40ºC. 

During study the developmental data, temperature and relative humidity of the rearing room as well as weight, length of the larvae were recorded from the time the larvae were collected until the adult flies emerge out. Results obtained show that development of the L. cuprina was slow at lower temperature. At the high temperature, developmental rate was fast. At low temperature L. cuprina attained greatest body weight whereas at high temperature there was a decrease in the weight. When flies were reared at 40ºC the development of the fly was much more rapid but slight mortality was observed.