Effect of fluctuating temperatures on the development of a forensically important blow fly, Protophormia terraenovae (Diptera: Calliphoridae).

ABSTRACT

Experiments were conducted to compare the immature development of Protophormia terraenovae (Robineau-Desvoidy) at fluctuating temperatures of 4-28 and 9-23 °C to their mean constant temperature, 16 °C. Overall development was fastest at the greater fluctuation and slowest at the constant temperature but showed similar percentages of development time in each stage. The rate summation effect is suspected to have caused this difference in development rate because fluctuations above the mean increase the rate relatively more than temperatures below the mean can lower the rate.