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12 May 2018 Forensically Relevant Blow Flies in Lebanon Survey and Identification Using Molecular Markers (Diptera: Calliphoridae)
Salman Shayya, Régis Debruyne, André Nel, Dany Azar
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Abstract

Calliphoridae are among the first insects associated to decomposing animal remains. We have collected 1,841 specimens of three calliphorid genera: Calliphora, Lucilia, and Chrysomya, from different Lebanese localities as a first step in implementing a database of insects of forensic relevance for the country. Blow-flies are crucial for the estimation of the postmortem interval. DNA-based identification is a rapid and accurate method, often used for morphologically similar species, especially for immatures or incomplete specimens. In this study, we test the suitability of three genetic markers to identify adults and immature stages of calliphorids, viz., mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcode, a region including partial sequences of mitochondrial Cyt-b-tRNAser-ND1, and second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Forty Lebanese specimens of various developmental stages (egg, larva, wandering third instar, pupa, newly emerged adult, and mature adult) were identified among the three calliphorid genera: Calliphora, Lucilia, and Chrysomya, and compared with published sequences to confirm their specific assignation. Phylogenetic analyses showed the robustness of ITS2 and COI to identify calliphorids at species level. Nevertheless, ITS2 failed to discriminate Lucilia caesar (Linnaeus) (Diptera, Calliphoridae) from Lucilia illustris (Meigen) (Diptera, Calliphoridae), and COI had a similar issue with Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera, Calliphoridae) and Lucilia cuprina (Wiedemann) (Diptera, Calliphoridae).Thus, these two markers are complementary. This work contributes new nucleotide sequences for Lebanon. It is a first step in implementing a molecular database of forensic relevant insects for the country.

© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Salman Shayya, Régis Debruyne, André Nel, and Dany Azar "Forensically Relevant Blow Flies in Lebanon Survey and Identification Using Molecular Markers (Diptera: Calliphoridae)," Journal of Medical Entomology 55(5), 1113-1123, (12 May 2018). https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjy068
Received: 18 January 2018; Accepted: 6 April 2018; Published: 12 May 2018
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KEYWORDS
calliphoridae
cytochrome oxidase I
Diagnostic
forensic entomology
second internal transcribed spacer
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