A preliminary identification of insect successive wave in Egypt on control and zinc phosphide-intoxicated animals in different seasons

Abstract

The presented study aimed primarily to document a baseline data of the decay process of rabbits and guinea pigs and their associated arthropod fauna, which are placed in an urban city: El Abbassyia, Cairo Governorate, Egypt, during winter and summer seasons, and to compare these data with the corresponding figure for zinc phosphide-intoxicated carrions. Generally, control rabbits and control guinea pigs were faster in their decay comparing the corresponding figure of the zinc phosphide–intoxicated group. A delay in colonization of insects was noticed either in the winter season for both groups, or additionally for the zinc phosphide groups. The associated insect fauna was represented in 6 orders, 20 families, and 36 genera and species. Necrophagous arthropods that supported decomposition of carcasses were mainly of orders Diptera and Coleoptera. Calliphoridae was the first insect family that colonized the different carcasses. The mean numbers of control immature dipterous maggots and similarly, the control coleopteran larvae significantly exceeded the corresponding mean numbers for the zinc phosphide-intoxicated groups in both winter and summer seasons in either rabbits or guinea pig groups. Moreover, the mean numbers of dipterous maggots or coleopteran larvae of rabbits significantly surpassed the corresponding figures for guinea pigs in both seasons. This study may add as a reference for the succession wave arthropod fauna in Cairo Governorate in winter and summer seasons. Moreover, it is the first record of the arthropod successive wave on zinc phosphide–intoxicated remains.