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Induced Cannibalism in Experimental Populations of the Forensic Indicator Chrysomya putoria Wiedemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

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Abstract

We analyzed the behavior of third-instars of Chrysomya putoria as potential cannibals in experimental populations. Cannibalism rates were evaluated in three settings observed for 3, 6, 9, and 24 h, placing injured and uninjured larvae of C. putoria together. Our data heavily support that C. putoria larvae behave as cannibals when induced by a wound in another larva, and also after starving for 24 h. The probability of cannibalism increased as a function of time, both in no-choice and in choice experiments evidencing that time is a determining factor for cannibalism induction in C. putoria. However, the treatment combining injured with uninjured larvae showed the highest probability of cannibalism. These results suggest that C. putoria larvae may cannibalize under scarcity of food over long time or the presence of injured larvae. This study is useful to understand the behavior of C. putoria feeding on ephemeral substrates such as carrion or corpses and brings relevant and significant contribution to population ecology of blowflies and also forensic entomology.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and Dr. Janet Reid for revising the text of the manuscript. VWB has been supported by a scholarship from FAPESP, FSF is supported by a scholarship from CAPES, and WACG is partially supported by a grant from CNPq and receives research support from FAPESP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Depto de Entomologia e Acarologia, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, Univ de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brasil

    V W Botteon, F S Fernandes & W A C Godoy

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  1. V W Botteon
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  2. F S Fernandes
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  3. W A C Godoy
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Correspondence to W A C Godoy.

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Edited by Patricia Thyssen – UNICAMP

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Botteon, V.W., Fernandes, F.S. & Godoy, W.A.C. Induced Cannibalism in Experimental Populations of the Forensic Indicator Chrysomya putoria Wiedemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Neotrop Entomol 45, 217–220 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-015-0354-x

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