Ralph Voris

Abstract: The Genera herein considered contain the largest members of the Staphylinidae . The larvae are extremely large, heavily chitinized and usually dark brown in color. The head is well separated from the thorax; clypeo-labral margin dentate except at the close of the instar when the dentation becomes worn and obscure; legs of medium length, heavily armed; pseudopode long, cylindrical and used in locomotion; urogomphus usually more than twice as long as pseudopode, hair-like spines on the urogomphus are extremely long and usually are arranged in modified whorls.

Abstract: The laboratory-rearing of insects collected from a death scene is an integral component of the analysis of entomological evidence, and it should not be overlooked. The rearing of some insect species within a laboratory environment can prove to be an extremely difficult task, but fortunately the needs of most insects of forensic importance are easily met in captivity. Aquariums such as those previously described are recommended for use in rearing insects since their size allows for the normal larval dispersal of most species to occur, and their lightweight construction allows them to be handled with little effort. When collecting entomological evidence at a death scene, the forensic investigator is likely to encounter insect eggs. The insects of forensic importance carrion beetles are large beetles and frequently observed associated with decomposing organic material. The rearing of entomological evidence is a task not often undertaken by the crime scene technician, law enforcement agency, or medical examiner’s office during a death investigation.

Abstract: Many studies have examined the phylogenetic utility of different kinds of molecular data, and have often compared these with morphology. However, relatively few studies have phylogenetically evaluated different morphological character systems. Using the Creophilus complex, the phylogenetic utility of external structural characters, male genitalia, female genitalia, and chaetotaxy of adults is examined for the first time in the megadiverse beetle family Staphylinidae. A data set of 121 phylogenetically informative characters of 24 terminal taxa was analysed separately and simultaneously using parsimony and the phylogenetic utility of each partition was compared with widely used statistics and support measures. External structures had the least homoplasy, resolved the most nodes separately, and largely determined the topology of the simultaneous analysis. Male and female genitalia contributed phylogenetic signal mostly congruent with external characters. Despite extensive homoplasy, chaetotaxy contributed the majority of hidden support, and was critical for resolving several terminal nodes in the simultaneous analysis. All character systems were informative throughout the tree, and when combined provided the best-supported hypothesis. However, there is a need to distinguish hidden support from dispersion of homoplasy when combining data sets of varying quality. The Creophilus complex, Creophilus Leach, Liusus Sharp, and the Creophilus erythrocephalus (Fabricius) and C. maxillosus (Linnaeus) species-groups are each strongly supported monophyletic groups. Hadrotes Maklin is not monophyletic and Hadrotes wakefieldi Cameron is the sister-species of the rest of the Creophilus complex, but included within it. Creophilus is revised to include 12 species, including Creophilus galapagensis sp. nov. and C. rekohuensis sp. nov.Creophilus huttoni (Broun) is removed from synonymy with C. oculatus (Fabricius), and C. insularis (Fauvel), C. villipennis Kraatz, and C. violaceus (Fauvel) are synonymized under C. flavipennis (Hope) comb. et stat. nov. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 163, 723–812.

Abstract: The estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) based on successional patterns of adult insects is largely limited, due to the lack of potential PMI markers. Sex and size of adult insects could be easily used for such estimation. In this study, sex- and size-related patterns of carrion attendance by adult insects were analyzed in Necrodes littoralis (Coleoptera: Silphidae) and Creophilus maxillosus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). For both species, abundance of males and females changed similarly during decomposition. A slightly female-biased sex ratio was recorded in N. littoralis. Females of N. littoralis started visiting carcasses, on average, one day earlier than males. There was a rise in size of males of N. littoralis at the end of decomposition, whereas for females of both species and males of C. maxillosus, no size-related patterns of carrion visitation were found. Current results demonstrate that size and sex of adult carrion beetles are poor indicators of PMI.

Abstract: The hairy rove beetle, Creophilus maxillosus (L.) (Staphylinidae), is a common fly predator associated with decomposing cadavers and carcasses. Developmental studies were conducted at constant temperatures of 16, 24, and 32°C, 50% relative humidity, and 12:12 h L:D photoperiod. Laboratory-collected eggs were reared in a Caron Products® Insect Growth Chamber. All insects were housed in separate cups and fed frozen secondary screwworm larvae, Cochliomyia macellaria (F.) (Calliphoridae). Beetles from 1,889 eggs were studied (n = 323 at 16°C; n = 504 at 24°C; and n = 1,062 at 32°C). Mean developmental times for all life stages decreased as temperature increased. Mean total developmental times for C. maxillosus at 16, 24, and 32°C were 1,523.3, 857.8, and 571.3 hours, respectively. Developmental times were significantly different for temperature, life stage, and temperature × life stage interactions. All Tukey-Kramer pairwise comparison tests for developmental times per temperature were significant, while all life stage comparisons were significantly different except for the egg and second instar. Tukey-Kramer pairwise comparison tests for developmental time for all temperature × life stage interactions are discussed. All stages reared at 16 and 32°C showed increased mortality, with the highest mortality in the third instar and pupal stages (>60 and 90%, respectively). Attainment of adulthood was extremely low for 16 and 32°C (0.01 and 0.008%, respectively), whereas 47% of eggs at 24°C reached adulthood. Developmental times established at 24°C may potentially contribute to future postmortem estimations of deceased humans and wildlife based on accumulated degree days.