Haematophagous Insect
Definition
An insect that feeds on the blood of a vertebrate host. Examples include mosquitoes (Culicidae), sand flies (Phlebotomus, Lutzomyia), and certain midges (Ceratopogonidae). Their blood meals can carry forensically useful host DNA.
- Definition
- Insect that feeds on vertebrate blood
- Examples
- Mosquitoes (Culicidae), sand flies (Phlebotomus, Lutzomyia), midges (Ceratopogonidae)
- Forensic value
- Blood meals may carry recoverable host DNA
Common questions
How can a blood-fed insect help identify a victim when no other tissue is available?+
A blood meal taken shortly before death or from a decomposing body can retain the host's DNA in the insect's digestive tract for a limited window, which laboratories can extract and profile in cases where conventional tissue sampling from the body itself is not possible.
What limits the usefulness of haematophagous insects as a DNA source?+
The host DNA degrades relatively quickly as the blood meal is digested, so the insect must be collected soon after feeding, and the recovered profile is often partial, meaning it is more useful for investigative leads or corroboration than as standalone identification evidence.
Related terms
- Blood Meal
- Blood ingested by a haematophagous insect during feeding on a vertebrate host. The host's DNA persists in the insect's gut for hours...
- COI Barcoding
- DNA-based species identification using a standard 658 bp segment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. Sequences are matched against reference...
- Gut Content Extraction
- Physical dissection of a larva to remove the crop and midgut contents, which are then extracted separately from the larval carcass. The...
- Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Haplotype
- A characteristic sequence of the mitochondrial genome used to assign an individual to a maternal lineage. More copies per cell than nuclear...
- Mixed-Source Profile
- A DNA profile resulting from a mixture of two or more contributors. Gut content extractions routinely produce mixtures of insect DNA and...