A review of necrophagous insects colonising human remains in South-east Queensland, Australia.

Farrell, Julianne F., Zalucki, Myron P. and Whittington, Andrew E. (2015) A review of necrophagous insects colonising human remains in South-east Queensland, Australia. In: 12th Meeting of the European Association for Forensic Entomology, 6th-9th May 2015, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom.

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Abstract

A review of insects collected from decomposing human remains in south-east Queensland yielded 32 species in three orders (Diptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera) and 11 families (Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae, Phoridae, Sepsidae, Chironomidae, Dermestidae, Cleridae, Histeridae, Staphylinidae, Encyrtidae). There were 15 cases where remains were located indoors and five cases where remains were outdoors, in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Coleoptera were strongly associated with outdoors remains, while dipteran species composition was similar in both indoor and outdoor habitats. Some Diptera were only associated with indoors remains, while others were similarly restricted to remains recovered outdoors. Hymenopteran parasitoids were active in both habitats. The predominance of Calliphoridae (Chrysomya rufifacies, Ch. megacephala, Ch. saffranea, and Ch. nigripes), which were present in 15 of the 20 cases, reflects its close association with human and other vertebrate remains, justifying the ongoing use of blowflies in forensic investigations. Sarcophagidae species were collected from 9 of the 20 mortuary cases, and in three of these cases, were the only larvae present, indicating a potential for Sarcophaga crassipalpis and S. impatiens to behave as primary invaders. They appeared to behave as secondary invaders in other cases where much more developmentally advanced calliphorid larvae were present. Comparative collections were made from other vertebrate remains, including road-kill and farmed animals throughout south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales during the same period. Similar succession patterns and dominant species were observed over a range of vertebrate remains in south-east Queensland.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Additional Information:	Link provided pertains to conference information. No manuscript available.
Divisions:	Business and Law
Depositing User:	Ms Kerry Kellaway
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2019 11:49
Last Modified:	23 Jan 2020 14:54
URI:	https://marjon.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/17346

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