Affiliation:
1. Laboratorio de Entomología Forense, Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas y Biomédicas del Sur Universidad Nacional del Sur‐Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Bahía Blanca Buenos Aires Argentina
2. Laboratorio de Entomología Aplicada y Forense, Departamento de Ciencia y Técnica Universidad Nacional de Quilmes Bernal Buenos Aires Argentina
Abstract
AbstractThe most widely used herbicides in the world are glyphosate formulations. These have been used in self‐poisoning and accidental poisoning. Dermestes maculatus (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) and Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are associated with decomposing human and animal remains. The aim of the study was to evaluate Roundup Full® II effects on saprophagous insects´ development. For this, green bottle flies and hide beetles were exposed to different doses of the herbicide. The duration of life cycles was recorded by observations made every 8 and 24 h. To register possible variations in size, external morphology, and female proportion, specimens of all developmental stages were collected. The duration of developmental stages in L. sericata did not change due to the herbicide, but this reduced all size parameters of puparium with pupae inside, the weight of L1, and of adults. The larval stage and total duration in D. maculatus were decreased by the highest dose, while size parameters of hide beetles remained unchanged at all development stages. In both flies and beetles, there was no evidence of abnormal external morphology and the female proportion did not change in response to the herbicide. Finally, this study exhibited an impact on L. sericata and D. maculatus, so the possibility that the herbicide may affect other forensically important species should be considered, but more work is needed. Taxonomic determination could be done as usual; however, caution should be exercised when estimating the postmortem interval. This study represents the first to analyze a glyphosate‐based herbicide associated with Forensic Entomology.
Funder
Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación
Universidad Nacional de Quilmes
Universidad Nacional del Sur
Subject
Genetics,Pathology and Forensic Medicine