Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília (UnB), Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF, CEP: 70910-900, Brazil.
Instituto Nacional de Perícias e Ciências Forenses - INFOR, Avenida Mendonça Furtado, 2278, Bairro Santa Rita, Macapá, AP, CEP: 68901-254, Brazil.
J Forensic Sci. 2020 May;65(3):1012-1015. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14279. Epub 2020 Jan 21.
Ants are one of the first insects to find an exposed cadaver and can be present during all stages of decomposition. Although these organisms are not commonly used in postmortem interval estimates, they are to be taken into account on criminal investigations involving human corpses, since they can leave bite marks that can be mistaken for antemortem or perimortem injuries, which could be misleading when ascertaining the occurrence of abuse or physical altercation during a crime. A few studies report the action of ants on human cadavers and even though leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta are frequently encountered in succession studies that use animal carcasses, there are no records of these fungus-growing species on human corpses. Atta is a genus restricted to the New World, ranging from northern Argentina to southern United States and acts as one of the most conspicuous neotropical herbivores. In this study, we report three cases of violent death that illustrate the impact of ants, especially those of the genus Atta, in a forensic setting. We compare the patterns displayed by postmortem bite injuries caused by leaf-cutter ants and other common species with less robust mandibles. We also present the capability of Atta ants to create artifacts by cutting victim's clothes in a crime scene, contributing to the knowledge of ant-mediated confounding factors in crime scene investigation.
蚂蚁是最早发现暴露尸体的昆虫之一，并且可以在尸体分解的所有阶段存在。虽然这些生物通常不用于推断死后时间，但在涉及人类尸体的刑事案件中需要考虑到它们，因为它们可能会留下咬痕，这些咬痕可能会被误认为生前或濒死期的损伤，这可能会在确定犯罪期间是否发生虐待或身体冲突时产生误导。有一些研究报告了蚂蚁对人类尸体的作用，尽管在使用动物尸体的连续研究中经常会遇到切叶蚁属的切叶蚁，但在人类尸体上没有这些菌食性物种的记录。切叶蚁属是一个仅限于新世界的属，分布范围从阿根廷北部到美国南部，是最引人注目的新热带草食动物之一。在这项研究中，我们报告了三起因暴力死亡的案例，这些案例说明了在法医环境中蚂蚁的影响，尤其是切叶蚁属的蚂蚁的影响。我们比较了由切叶蚁和其他具有不太强壮的下颚的常见物种引起的死后咬伤的模式。我们还展示了 Atta 蚂蚁在犯罪现场切割受害者衣物制造人工痕迹的能力，有助于了解蚂蚁在犯罪现场调查中造成的混淆因素。
