Laboratory of Insects of Forensic Importance, Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Avenida Professor Moraes Rego, s/n, Recife, PE, Brazil CEP: 50670-420.
Laboratory of Insects of Forensic Importance, Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Avenida Professor Moraes Rego, s/n, Recife, PE, Brazil CEP: 50670-420.
Forensic Sci Int. 2021 Jul;324:110827. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110827. Epub 2021 May 12.
Sarcosaprophagous flies (Diptera) rank among the most common insects associated with human-transformed environments all over the world. Synanthropic species of the families Calliphoridae, Muscidae, Sarcophagidae and Phoridae, in particular, have tremendous forensic importance due to their ability to colonize human cadavers and thus provide information on minimum post-mortem interval. Recently, cases of flies colonizing cadavers inside buildings of different heights drew attention to the vertical dispersal abilities of these flies, a subject that has received little attention. We investigated the vertical distribution of sarcosaprophagous flies in an urban environment, using uninhabited buildings as experimental models in Northeastern Brazil. To assess the vertical stratification of flies, one in every three floors of nine buildings was sampled using traps baited with bovine spleen, from the ground to the 27th floor. Calliphoridae was the most abundant family (52.9%), followed by Muscidae (41.2%), Sarcophagidae (3.2%) and Phoridae (2.7%). Most of the insects were collected at ground level (78.8%), with a decreasing abundance registered on the higher floors. Nevertheless, adults of the four families tested here were able to reach substrates as high as the 15th floor, which corresponds to approximately 48 m in height. Regarding calliphorids, seven species were identified, of which Chrysomya albiceps (30.4%) and C. megacephala (68.3%) were the most abundant. This is, to our knowledge, the first detailed, replicated study on vertical resource localization of sarcosaprophagous flies.
腐肉食性蝇类（双翅目）是全球与人类改造环境关系最密切的常见昆虫之一。特别是麻蝇科、蝇科、丽蝇科和皮蝇科中的拟寄生性物种，由于其能够在人类尸体上定殖，从而提供关于死后时间间隔的信息，因此具有巨大的法医重要性。最近，在不同高度的建筑物内发现蝇类定殖尸体的案例引起了人们对这些蝇类垂直扩散能力的关注，而这一主题却很少受到关注。我们在巴西东北部使用无人居住的建筑物作为实验模型，调查了腐肉食性蝇类在城市环境中的垂直分布情况。为了评估蝇类的垂直分层情况，我们在 9 栋建筑物的每三层楼中使用牛脾脏诱饵进行采样，从地面到 27 楼。麻蝇科（52.9%）是最丰富的科，其次是蝇科（41.2%）、丽蝇科（3.2%）和皮蝇科（2.7%）。大多数昆虫都在地面上收集（78.8%），随着楼层的升高，数量逐渐减少。然而，这里测试的四个科的成虫都能够到达高达 15 楼的高度，相当于大约 48 米的高度。关于麻蝇科，共鉴定出 7 个种，其中黄潜蝇（Chrysomya albiceps）（30.4%）和巨尾阿丽蝇（C. megacephala）（68.3%）最为丰富。这是我们所知的第一项关于腐肉食性蝇类垂直资源定位的详细复制研究。
