Beetles and flies collected on pig carrion in an experimental setting in Thuringia and their forensic implications

Abstract

Decomposition processes and insect succession were analysed on a total of eight pig (Sus scrofa) carcasses. The survey was carried out in four different periods between November 2007 and August 2008 and on two different substrates (meadow, concrete floor close to a building). The experiments were placed in a rural site in the surroundings of Jena, Thuringia. The duration and specificity of the different decomposition stages were dependent on season, weather and quality and quantity of insect colonization. Whereas the carrion maintained a bloated appearance even after 133 days in winter, it reached the dry stage within 8 days in the summer months. The type of substrate had few effects on the decaying process, but the insects were generally more abundant on the meadow. In total, more than 57 species of Diptera belonging to 17 families and 48 species of Coleoptera belonging to 14 families were identified. Dominant species belonged to the families of Calliphoridae (n = 11 spp.), Sarcophagidae (n = 8), Muscidae (n = 9), Piophilidae (n = 3), Silphidae (n = 6), Dermestidae (n = 3), Nitidulidae (n = 4), Cleridae (n = 3) and Histeridae (n = 2). Remarkably, the rather common Nicrophorus species were completely absent, whereas the usually rare Necrodes littoralis (L.) was present in larger numbers. No distinct coincidence between the occurrence of a single species and a certain decomposition stage could be confirmed. A main objective of the study is the establishment of a forensic entomological database for Central Europe, especially Thuringia.

The immature stages of the necrophagous fly Liopiophila varipes and considerations on the genus Liopiophila (Diptera: Piophilidae)

“…It must be mentioned that Hennig (1943) described the morphology of the CPS and anterior spiracles of S. nigriceps (named as Piophila foveolata Meigen) larvae from the characters observed on a puparium of this species, highlighting that the number of rows of spines on the ventral creeping welts could not be confirmed from such a specimen. The first author of the current manuscript has studied some larvae of S. nigriceps collected in a carrion-succession study (see Anton et al 2011) which showed two rows of spines on the ventral creeping welts. The presence of two rows of spines on the ventral creeping welts is therefore a common character of both L. varipes and S. nigriceps, but it is also shown by the larva of Lasiopiophila pilosa (Staeger), which conversely show anterior spiracles with lobes arranged in a single group (McAlpine 1977).…”

“…Anton et al 2011;Martín-Vega and Baz 2013). Despite L. varipes appears to be of smaller economic and hygienic importance than other piophilid species, it may be common on food industry premises (Zuska and Laštovka 1965).…”

A general approach for postmortem interval based on uniformly distributed and interconnected qualitative indicators

“…Based on the results of previous pig carcass studies [26, 38–40] and case histories [41–44], a list of definitive insect species was prepared for the rural habitats of Central Europe (Online Resource: ESM 2). The only precondition the species had to meet was regular breeding in large cadavers.…”

Connecting the Dots: From an Easy Method to Computerized Species Determination

“…Therefore, the next step in the development of the method was designed for five species of the genus Sarcophaga from five different subgenera. Sarcophaga albiceps , S. argyrostoma , S. caerulescens , S. melanura , and S. similis were previously found to be frequent visitors and successful colonizers of large animal carrion and human corpses [44,45,46,47,48,49,50]. As for the six Lucilia species, a genus pattern could be generated from these five Sarcophaga species (Figure 6) and species-specific pattern variations were found [51].…”