IDENTIFICATION OF INSECTS SUCCESSIVE WAVES ON CARRIONS OF POISONED RABBITS AND GUINEA PIGS IN RELATION TO SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN CAIRO, EGYPT

Abstract

This study carried out on nine healthy exposed domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.) and nine guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus L.) during winter and summer seasons 2012 in Cairo, Egypt. Animals divided into 3 groups. The first killed by tramadol where, each guinea pig injected with 100 mg (0.5 tablet) dissolved in 2.5 ml of water and each rabbit injected with 400 mg (2 tablets) dissolved in 10 ml of water.The second group killed by zinc phosphide, where each guinea pig injected with 1 gm of the substance dissolved in 4 ml of water and each rabbit was injected with 3 gm in 12 ml of water. All of them injected by Gastroesophageal injection. The third group killed by asphyxia as a control experiment. Immediately after death, carcasses were transferred without delay to the study site. The carrions were visited daily, the decomposition process was observed, the invading insect species which collected from carcasses at each stage were identified by using special taxonomic keys, the insect's successive waves in different carcasses were noticed and the daily climatic data were recorded as well. Five stages of decomposition were detected in all carcasses. These stages named; fresh, bloated, active decay, advanced decay and skeletal. The duration of each stage was recorded with a noticeable delay in the treated carcasses.From the view point of seasons, decomposition process observed to have a slower rate in winter season in all study cases than that in summer, the heavy rains in winter retarded the decomposition and the high temperature in summer

accelerated it by fastened the development of dipterous larvae, so the duration of decomposition in winter occurred in 96 days while in summer taken only 17 days. Generally, in regard with the size of animal carcasses, it was found that the decaying rate of guinea pig carcasses was faster than that of rabbit ones ending with clear skeletonization for both seasons. A total of 12966 individuals of arthropods (Immature stages and adults) were collected from these experiments. Among insects, 7 orders, 37 families, 51 genera and 67 species were identified and listed as follow. I. Order Diptera

1- Family: Calliphoridae(6 species)

Calliphora vicina, Chrysomya albiceps, Chrysomya megacephala, Chrysomya rufifacies, Lucilia sericata and Lucilia cuprina. 2- Family: Sarcophagidae (3 species)

Sarcophaga argyrostoma, Sarcophaga hertipes and Wohlf