Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona, km 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Policiales, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Int J Legal Med. 2019 Sep;133(5):1581-1592. doi: 10.1007/s00414-019-02088-z. Epub 2019 May 31.
Baseline data on the insect successional patterns on carcasses can be a valuable estimation tool in the investigations of suspicious deaths, particularly when the post-mortem interval is longer than months or years. However, although carrion insect succession is a recurrent topic in forensic science research, the duration of the published studies is typically shorter than 1 year, with only one published study from central Europe documenting successional patterns beyond the first year of decomposition. We provide here the first data on the long-term insect successional patterns in southern Europe, using pig carcasses exposed in the four seasons of the year and documenting the carrion entomofauna during the second and third year of decomposition. Our results confirmed previous observations from central Europe that several Coleoptera species are able to recolonize cadavers during the second and third year after death, with their larvae residing on the remains for long periods. The season of cadaver exposure appears to be a main factor determining the composition of the insect fauna that exploits the remains during subsequent years. Our results suggest that it might be possible to estimate the year and season of death analyzing the composition of the insect fauna occurring on a cadaver. The present data highlight the need for further studies on the long-term insect succession on cadavers in different seasons and geographical areas, in order to fully understand its patterns and ensure its proper application in PMI estimations.
关于尸骸上昆虫演替模式的基线数据可以成为可疑死亡调查中的一种有价值的估计工具，尤其是当死后间隔时间超过数月或数年时。然而，尽管尸体昆虫演替是法医学研究中的一个常见主题，但已发表研究的持续时间通常短于 1 年，只有一项来自中欧的发表研究记录了分解后第一年以外的演替模式。我们在这里提供了有关南欧长期昆虫演替模式的首批数据，使用在一年中的四个季节中暴露的猪尸，并在分解的第二年和第三年记录尸骸昆虫区系。我们的结果证实了来自中欧的先前观察结果，即几种鞘翅目物种能够在死后的第二和第三年重新定居在尸体上，其幼虫在遗体上长期居住。尸体暴露的季节似乎是决定在随后几年中利用遗体的昆虫区系组成的主要因素。我们的研究结果表明，通过分析出现在尸体上的昆虫区系的组成，有可能估计死亡的年份和季节。目前的数据强调了需要在不同季节和地理区域对尸体上的长期昆虫演替进行进一步研究，以充分了解其模式并确保其在 PMI 估计中的正确应用。
