昆虫学证据在死亡时间推断中的应用

法医昆虫学是一门既古老又新兴的交叉学科,死亡时间(PMI)推断是法医昆虫学最主要的实践应用之一。为阐明昆虫学证据在PMI推断中的应用以及未来该领域研究的热点和难点,本文在阐述昆虫个体发育、昆虫群落演替、昆虫代谢物质以及时序基因等相关概念的基础上,对近年来国内外在利用法医昆虫学进行PMI推断领域的研究进展进行了综述。此外,本文还总结了实践中需要注意的问题如各种推断方法的适用范围、常见的误区以及在现场中昆虫学证据的采集技巧等,以期提高基层法医工作者的昆虫学证据采集有效性。

虚拟仿真技术在森林昆虫学实验中的应用

针对森林昆虫学实验中部分周期长、成本高、危险性大而难以开展实验的问题,该文以森林昆虫多样性调查和油桐尺蠖个体发育过程虚拟仿真实验为例说明虚拟仿真技术在森林昆虫实验教学中应用的必要性。实践证明,通过虚拟仿真技术不仅可以进行现实中难以安排的森林昆虫学实验,而且可以让学生通过设置不同的参数获得不同的实验结果,发挥学生的主动性和创造性,提高实验教学效果。

Recognition of nestmate eggs in the ant Formicafusca is based on queen derived cues

Inclusive fitness benefits depend on recognizing the right individuals to interact with. Social insect nests protect themselves from non-kin intruders through nestmate recognition based on chemical cues. The recognition cues on adult individu- als are from a mixture of genetic and environmental sources, but the ontogeny and use of recognition cues on eggs has not been previously assessed. We studied recognition by workers of eggs that were either nestmates or non-nestmates, and the ontogeny of recognition cues on eggs in the ant Formica fusca, a species with precise egg recognition abilities. Workers were able to dis- criminate among freshly laid eggs with no nest derived cues on them, and the egg surface chemicals varied among nests in these eggs, suggesting that queen derived cues are used in nestmate recognition. The results are discussed in the light of their implica- tions on deceptive social parasite strategies and within colony conflicts