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Radiocesium contaminations and transfer in cyclorrhaphous flies (Diptera: Muscidae, Calliphoridae) at three distances from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 accident

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Abstract

Radiocesium contaminations in Diptera (Muscidae, Calliphoridae) was investigated at three distances (11 km, 14 km, and 25 km) from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The 134+137Cs concentrations in adults of coprophagous Musca hervei Villeneuve and necrophagous Chrysomyia pinguis (Walker) at an 11-km point were 3 and 2.8–4 times higher than those of a 14-km point, respectively. The 134+137Cs concentration in adults C. pinguis throughout three years from 2014 to 2016 with maximum 6886 Bq kg−1 was significantly higher than that of M. hervei. In rearing experiments, eggs of uncontaminated Neomyia cornicina (Fabricius) and Lucilia caesar Linnaeus were inoculated onto cattle dung and meat samples (cattle and the Japanese monkey) contaminated with radiocesium. The 134+137Cs concentrations in pupae of N. cornicina reared from two contamination levels of dung samples were 217 ± 4.9 Bq kg−1 and 597 ± 22 Bq kg−1, respectively; those in pupae of L. caesar reared from two contamination levels of monkey meat samples were 55 ± 4.3 Bq kg−1 and 3390 ± 55 Bq kg−1, respectively. The 134+137Cs concentrations in adults emerged from pupae for cattle dung and meat suggest that most of the 134+137Cs in pupae transfer to adults during metamorphosis in cyclorrhaphous Diptera.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to express our sincere thanks to Mrs. M. Yoshizawa of Yoshizawa Farm, F. Watanabe of Omaru Kyodo Farm in Namie Town, and Dr. K. Okada of Iwate University for their support during our survey, and the local government of Namie Town for the permission to conduct the survey. We are also grateful to Dr. Y. Urushihara of Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University for his kindness in offering the valuable meat samples of monkeys. Our thanks are also due to Assoc. Prof. G. A. Hill of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine for his checking of the English in this manuscript.

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  1. Laboratory of Entomology, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan

    Mitsuhiro Iwasa, Kosuke Sato, Shin-ichiro Ishikawa, Teppei Takahashi, Hideyuki Kabeya & Fumiya Nakaya

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  1. Mitsuhiro Iwasa
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  2. Kosuke Sato
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  3. Shin-ichiro Ishikawa
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Correspondence to Mitsuhiro Iwasa.

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Iwasa, M., Sato, K., Ishikawa, Si. et al. Radiocesium contaminations and transfer in cyclorrhaphous flies (Diptera: Muscidae, Calliphoridae) at three distances from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 accident. Appl Entomol Zool 57, 81–91 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-021-00768-0

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