Chronometrical morphology changes of larval cephalopharyngeal skeleton in the different developmental stages of Parasarcophaga crassipalpis and its application in forensic medicine
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Key Words：forensic entomology, Parasarcophaga crassipalpis, larval cephalopharyngeal skeleton, postmortem interval (PMI), temperature
Abstract： The important forensic fly, Parasarcophaga crassipalpis, Macquart was reared at different temperatures to examine its cephalopharyngeal skeleton morphological changes during growth. Some indexes including areas of different parts of cephalopharyngeal skeleton and average optical density had been measured through digital image processing technology. The results showed that the structural traits of pharyngeal sclerite regularly changed with daily larval growth and could be used as larval age markers, especially within the third instar. The indicators of mouth hook varied distinctively when instars overlapped. This study showed P. crassipalpis could be used as indicator species when establishing postmortem interval as long as the investigator accounted for the development data of the species.