Burial could be used by criminals to conceal the bodies of victims, interfering with the succession of sarcosaprophagous fauna and with the evaluation of post-mortem interval. In Italy, no experimental investigation on arthropods associated with buried remains has been conducted to date. A first experimental study on arthropods associated with buried carcasses was carried out in a rural area of Arcavacata di Rende (Cosenza), Southern Italy, from November 2017 to May 2018. Six pig carcasses (Susscrofa Linnaeus) were used, five of which were buried in 60-cm deep pits, leaving about 25-cm of soil above each carcass, and one was left above ground. One of the buried carcasses was periodically exhumed to evaluate the effects of disturbance on decay processes and on arthropod fauna. The other four carcasses were exhumed only once, respectively after 43, 82, 133, and 171 days. As expected, the decay rate was different among carcasses. Differences in taxa and colonization of arthropod fauna were also detected in the above ground and periodically exhumed carcasses. In carcasses exhumed only once, no arthropod colonization was detected. The results showed that a burial at about 25 cm depth could be sufficient to prevent colonization by sarcosaprophagous taxa and these data could be relevant in forensic cases involving buried corpses.

Among insect orders, Coleoptera are relevant for forensic investigations, together with Diptera. Some species of this order directly feed on corpses but others predate necrophagous fauna, interfering with the colonization of remains. Forensic entomologists rely both on age of immature insects found on corpses and on the arthropod successional pattern associated with different decay stages [1][2][3][4][5].Necrodes littoralis (L.) (Coleoptera: Silphidae) is of forensic interest because it colonizes and breeds on human and vertebrate remains. This necrophagous species is also a predator of dipteran larvae [6,7]. Although common in Europe, it has never been reported in Italy as colonizer of human bodies. Here, we describe for the first time the presence and activity of N. littoralis on a well-decomposed human corpse discovered indoors in an abandoned sports facility in a suburban area of Cosenza (Calabria, Southern Italy).

No abstract

Pycnomerus italicus (Ganglbauer, 1899) (Coleoptera: Zopheridae), a saproxylic beetle endemic to Italy, is listed as “endangered” in the Red List of Italian Saproxylic Beetles. In 2021, during an entomological survey, 49 adults of this species were found in the Riserva Naturale Biogenetica Marchesale, Calabria, Southern Italy. The species was found in medium and high-quality habitats where a large number of fallen trunks of Abies alba Mill. 1759 (Pinales: Pinaceae) were present. On the same decaying trunks where P. italicus was found, larvae and/or adults of other three species of saproxylic beetles were detected. Although most aspects of the biology and ecology of P. italicus are still unknown, the presence of this endemic species in the Riserva Naturale Biogenetica Marchesale is interesting because this reserve and other humid forest environments in Southern Italy could be relevant refuges not only for this species but also for other endangered saproxylic beetles. These areas should be protected with appropriate forest-management techniques.

Myiasis is a type of parasitosis by larvae of Diptera that may affect vertebrates, including wild and domestic birds. Traumatic myiasis was discovered in a domestic goose, Anser anser domesticus L. (Anseriformes: Anatidae), in June 2020 in a rural area of the region Calabria (Southern Italy). The myiasis was caused by Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae). In Italy, this was the first case of myiasis by L. sericata ever described in a bird. It was also the first case of myiasis detected in a goose in Italy. The description of the case is integrated by a discussion on nonhematophagous dipteran larvae causing myiasis in birds and by an updated and detailed review of literature cases of myiasis by L. sericata in birds reported worldwide, useful for monitoring and management of dipteran species of medical and veterinary interest.