DNA-based identification of forensically important Chrysomyinae (Diptera :Calliphoridae)

Identifying an insect specimen is an important first step in a forensic-ent omological analysis. However, diagnostic morphological criteria are lacking for many species and life stages. We demonstrate a method for using mitoch ondrial DNA sequence data and phylogenetic analysis to identify any specime n of the blow fly subfamily Chrysomyinae likely to be collected from a huma n corpse within Canada or the USA. The reliability of the method was illust rated by analyzing specimens designed to mimic the information likely to be obtained from highly degraded specimens as well as specimens collected fro m widely separated geographic locations. Our sequence database may be suita ble for another country provided the investigator knows the local fly fauna well enough to narrow the choice of chrysomyine species to those used in t his study. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.