Impact of adult age on forensic use of Culex pipiens mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Mosquitoes feed on blood which is a key marker in forensic applications. We identified the impact of female Culex pipiens age on person identification using Short Tandem Repeats analysis (STRs) via blood present in their abdomen and established a correlation between mosquito age and Red Blood Cells (RBCs) degradation as indicator about time passed after blood feeding. Human DNA from adults was reduced in samples from 0 and 2 days old than 4-10 days old. These samples failed to supply full STRs profiles (0 and 2 days old females supplied 11 and 10 sites). Older females supplied all of the 14 STRs. Temporal count of RBCs from females with different ages after mosquito feeding revealed faster degradation of RBCs in blood drawn from older females (4-10 days old) than those of younger samples (0 and 2 days old). Age of mosquito has a key impact on forensic use of mosquitoes.