Dermestidae could be useful in forensic investigations to assess the PMI as adults and larvae colonize dried remains. We reared two species of Dermestidae (Dermestes frischii and Dermestes undulatus) to understand the effects of different temperatures on the length of their whole life cycle and on their immature stages. Both species were reared at 23°C ± 0.5, RH 75% and at 26°C ± 0.5, 75% RH. Our result shows that the temperature is the main factor that influences the development of those species; in fact, increasing temperature leads to a shorter development cycle (59.8 ± 0.5 and 38.1 ± 0.2 for D. frischii; 50.6 ± 0.6 and 36.2 ± 0.2 for D. undulatus). Furthermore, we found that the number of the molts before the pupa decreases from 5-7 to 5-6 for D. frischii and from 4-6 to 4-5 for D. undulatus, respectively, at 23°C and 26°C.
Keywords: Dermestes frischii; Dermestes undulatus; dermestidae; development; forensic entomology; forensic science; temperatures.
© 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.