Calliphoridae (Diptera) on Decomposing Pig Carcasses and Human Cadavers in the Upper Midwest of North America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Correy S Hildebrand ◽  
Valerie J Cervenka ◽  
Roger D Moon ◽  
Robin E Thomson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Sus Scrofa ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Upper Midwest ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Species Lists ◽  
Human Cadavers ◽  
Pig Carcasses

Abstract The geographic ranges of forensically informative taxa on decomposing remains vary across regions. To determine which calliphorid flies would be expected to occur in Minnesota and the upper Midwest, individual freshly killed pig carcasses (Sus scrofa L.) were placed in the field in St. Paul, MN, at monthly intervals from May to October 2017 and May to September 2018. Aerial nets, forceps, and pitfall traps were used to collect and preserve associated adult and immature insects. Sixty-four forensically informative insect taxa were recorded, representing three insect orders and 14 families. Ten informative calliphorid species were recorded on carcasses, adding four new Minnesota records. Comparison of species lists from 26 human forensic cases indicated agreement between the two lists, except for Lucilia coeruleiviridis Macquart, Calliphora vomitoria (L.), and Cynomya cadaverina Robineau-Desvoidy, which occurred on pig carcasses but not human remains, and Calliphora livida Hall, which occurred on human remains, but not carcasses. The composite fauna list from cadavers agreed largely with the 2-yr list from pig carcasses.

The Chemistry Decomposition in Human Corpses

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1352-1356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Gabriela Ioan ◽  
Cristiana Manea ◽  
Bianca Hanganu ◽  
Laura Statescu ◽  
Laura Gheuca Solovastru ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Organic Substances ◽  
Chemical Decomposition ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Human Decomposition ◽  
Decomposition Processes ◽  
Human Cadavers ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Decomposition Stages

Human body is a complex of organic substances (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates), which undergo chemical decomposition processes soon after death. The compounds released during decomposition characterize the development of different stages of this process: e.g. biogenic amines resulted from the proteins decomposition will confer the particular smell of a cadaver, gases resulted from carbohydrates fermentation will give the bloating aspect of the cadaver. The study of cadaver decomposition and the products resulted from this process is the subject of human taphonomy and is realized nowadays in special facilities in USA and Australia. Identification and analysis of the chemical compounds emerged after human decomposition (gases, liquids, salts) give valuable information to forensic pathologists for estimating the postmortem interval (PMI). More, volatile compounds � which give the odor signature�specific to human remains � may be utilized in identifying clandestine burials, human remains or victims entrapped under ruins in cases of natural disasters. In this paper the authors describe the chemical decomposition stages of human cadavers, the factors influencing these processes and utility for the forensic activity of the results of human taphonomic studies.

scholarly journals Identifying Blunt Force Traumatic Injury on Thermally Altered Remains: A Pilot Study Using Sus scrofa

Biology ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Kamryn Keys ◽  
Ann H. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Forensic Anthropology ◽  
Sus Scrofa ◽  
Traumatic Injury ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Fire Damage ◽  
Fire Exposure ◽  
Blunt Force ◽  
Blunt Force Trauma ◽  
Anthropological Literature

In forensic scenarios involving homicide, human remains are often exposed to fire as a means of disposal and/or obscuring identity. Burning human remains can result in the concealment of traumatic injury, the creation of artifacts resembling injury, or the destruction of preexisting trauma. Since fire exposure can greatly influence trauma preservation, methods to differentiate trauma signatures from burning artifacts are necessary to conduct forensic analyses. Specifically, in the field of forensic anthropology, criteria to distinguish trauma from fire signatures on bone is inconsistent and sparse. This study aims to supplement current forensic anthropological literature by identifying criteria found to be the most diagnostic of fire damage or blunt force trauma. Using the skulls of 11 adult pigs (Sus scrofa), blunt force trauma was manually produced using a crowbar and flat-faced hammer. Three specimens received no impacts and were utilized as controls. All skulls were relocated to an outdoor, open-air fire where they were burned until a calcined state was achieved across all samples. Results from this experiment found that blunt force trauma signatures remained after burning and were identifiable in all samples where reassociation of fragments was possible. This study concludes that distinct patterns attributed to thermal fractures and blunt force fractures are identifiable, allowing for diagnostic criteria to be narrowed down for future analyses.

scholarly journals Urban Environments Aid Invasion of Brown Widows (Theridiidae: Latrodectus geometricus) in North America, Constraining Regions of Overlap and Mitigating Potential Impact on Native Widows

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Sadir ◽  
Katharine A. Marske
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Ecological Niche Modeling ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Latrodectus Geometricus

Urbanization is a major cause of biotic homogenization and habitat fragmentation for native communities. However, the role of urbanization on the success of biological invasions on a continental scale has yet to be explored. Urbanization may facilitate the establishment success of invasive species by minimizing niche differentiation between native and invaded ranges. In such cases, we might expect anthropogenic variables to have stronger influence on the geographic distribution of invasive compared to native populations. In this study, we use ecological niche modeling to define the distribution of non-native brown widow spider (Latrodectus geometricus) and three native black widows (L. hespersus, L. mactans, L. variolus) in North America and gauge the importance of urbanization on the geographic ranges of widows at a continental scale. We also quantify the geographic overlap of L. geometricus with each native widow to assess potential species and regions at risk of ecological impact. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that the distribution of L. geometricus is strongly constrained to urban environments, while native widow distributions are more strongly driven by climatic factors. These results show that urbanization plays a significant role in facilitating the success of invasion, weakening the significance of climate on the realized niche in its invaded range.

The repatriation of human remains – problem or opportunity?

Antiquity ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (300) ◽  
pp. 404-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurajane Smith
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
North America ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Culture Media ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Historical Continuity

The editor’s question “who do human skeletons belong to?” (Antiquity 78: 5) can be answered positively, but it must be answered in context. The question was prompted by reports from the Working Group on Human Remains established by the British government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in 2001 to review the current legal status of human remains held in all publicly funded museums and galleries, and to consider and review submissions on the issue of the return of non-UK human remains to their descendent communities (DCMS 2003: 1-8). In effect, the report was primarily concerned with human remains from Indigenous communities, using a definition which follows the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as “distinct cultural groups having a historical continuity with pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories” (DCMS 2003:7). Consequently, the report deals primarily with the Indigenous communities of Australia, New Zealand and North America.

scholarly journals Ancient human parallel lineages within North America contributed to a coastal expansion

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 360 (6392) ◽  
pp. 1024-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Scheib ◽  
Hongjie Li ◽  
Tariq Desai ◽  
Vivian Link ◽  
Christopher Kendall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Direct Relationship ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Genomic Analysis ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Ancestral Population ◽  
North Americans ◽  
Human Genomes ◽  
South Americans

Little is known regarding the first people to enter the Americas and their genetic legacy. Genomic analysis of the oldest human remains from the Americas showed a direct relationship between a Clovis-related ancestral population and all modern Central and South Americans as well as a deep split separating them from North Americans in Canada. We present 91 ancient human genomes from California and Southwestern Ontario and demonstrate the existence of two distinct ancestries in North America, which possibly split south of the ice sheets. A contribution from both of these ancestral populations is found in all modern Central and South Americans. The proportions of these two ancestries in ancient and modern populations are consistent with a coastal dispersal and multiple admixture events.

Taxonomy of the Carex straminea complex (Cyperaceae)

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (12) ◽  
pp. 2177-2195 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Rothrock ◽  
A. A. Reznicek ◽  
L. R. Ganion
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Analysis ◽  
North America ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Endemic Species ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Upper Midwest ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Sem Investigation

The Carex straminea complex (section Ovales) consists of five species limited to hydric communities of eastern North America. Based upon gross morphology and perigynium structure, these species are closely aligned with the Carex albolutescens complex but not the western species Carex feta. An SEM investigation of the micromorphology of achene and style epidermis from 15 species of Carex section Ovales demonstrated much interspecific variation. As a result, these data could not confirm the relationship between the C. straminea complex and the C. albolutescens complex but did support the delimitation of section Ovales. Numerical analysis showed that characters of the inflorescence and perigynium are satisfactory for separating C. straminea from Carex hormathodes, a species limited to the Atlantic coast. Likewise, characters of inflorescence, pistillate scale, and perigynium could clearly separate the geographically widespread Carex alata from the Florida endemic species Carex vexans. A fifth and relatively distinctive species, Carex suberecta, was found to have a narrow ecological preference for fens and a distribution limited to the upper Midwest, with outlying populations in western Virginia. Putative natural hybrids are documented between Carex scoparia and Carex longii and some species in the C. straminea complex. Key words: Carex, Cyperaceae, section Ovales, taxonomy, SEM, biogeography, hybrid.

scholarly journals An Unusual Cluster of Neuroinvasive Lyme Disease Cases Presenting With Bannwarth Syndrome in the Midwest United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditya Shah ◽  
John C O’Horo ◽  
John W Wilson ◽  
Dane Granger ◽  
Elitza S Theel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
Lyme Disease ◽  
Upper Midwest ◽  
Midwest United States

Abstract Bannwarth syndrome (BWS), an infrequent manifestation of neuroinvasive Lyme disease (LD) characterized by radiculopathy, neuropathy, and lymphocytic pleocytosis, is more commonly documented in Europe than North America. Here, we describe a cluster of 5 neuroinvasive LD cases with BWS in the upper Midwest United States between July and August 2017.

Biogeographic and evolutionary patterns of continental margin benthic foraminifera

Paleobiology ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin A. Buzas ◽  
Stephen J. Culver
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Endemic Species ◽  
Benthic Foraminifera ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Centers Of Origin ◽  
Wide Geographic Distribution

Several very large, taxonomically standardized data sets have been compiled and utilized to investigate biogeographic and evolutionary patterns of continental margin benthic foraminifera. Mean partial species durations for 87 frequently occurring and 180 rarely occurring species on the Atlantic continental margin of North America are the same, namely 21 m.y. The global fossil record of these species indicates no center or centers of origin and indicates very rapid dispersal. The Miocene had the greatest number of first occurrences with 46%, followed by the Pleistocene, Pliocene and Oligocene with approximately 13% each. The remaining 14% first occur in the Eocene, Paleocene, and Cretaceous. Species with a wide geographic distribution often exhibit longer species durations than those with narrow geographic ranges. The vast majority of endemic species (150 of 175) occur rarely and have no fossil record.

Land Birds

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin L. Cody ◽  
Enriqueta Velarde
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
North America ◽  
Gulf Of California ◽  
Field Work ◽  
New Subspecies ◽  
Island Populations ◽  
Species Lists ◽  
Desert Regions ◽  
Arid Desert

Very few of the early scientific explorers in the Gulf of California had much to say about the land birds. There might be two reasons for this: first, the land birds in arid, desert regions are sparse and in general unbecoming, and second, the species encountered are by and large those seen in the much more accessible regions of southwestern North America. Chapter 1 introduced János Xántus, who is recognized as the pioneer ornithologist (or at least bird collector) in the cape area of Lower California, whose contributions (e.g., 1859, in which the first description of the Gray Thrasher, Toxostoma cinereum, was published) are appropriately commemorated in the Xantus Hummingbird, the most spectacular endemic on the peninsula. Lawrence (1860) first described the species as Amazilia xantusi (thence Hylocharis xantusii, and now Basilinna xantusii), and P. L. Sclater announced the discovery to Ibis readers in the same year. By the end of the nineteenth century, several ornithologists had collected in the southern peninsula and reported their findings (e.g., Baird 1870; Belding 1883; Bryant 1889; Ridgway 1896), but very little of this work referred to the islands in the gulf. Brewster’s (1902) report on the cape region avifauna was the most comprehensive of the earlier studies. Serious attention was first paid to the gulf island birds by Maillard (1923) and Townsend (1923), and the latter’s 1911 island-hopping trip in the Albatross served as a model for many similar expeditions later. The first distributional synthesis of their work, and especially that of Nelson (1921), Lamb (e.g., 1924), and Thayer (e.g., 1907), was published by Joseph Grinnell in 1928 in a monograph that is still the standard reference for the peninsula and gulf area. The last 50 years have seen little progress beyond the accumulation of further distributional records and the description of new subspecies (e.g., van Rossem 1929, 1932; Banks 1963a,b,c, 1964, 1969). The island birds remain rather poorly known; even species lists are likely to be incomplete, and ecological studies of the island populations have scarcely begun. In this chapter we report on the results largely of our own field work.

Ecological Specialization and Generalization

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Futuyma
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Temperature Tolerance ◽  
Ecological Specialization ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Yellow Warbler ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Tropical Environments ◽  
Pica Nuttalli

Anyone who is even slightly acquainted with plants or animals knows that different species inhabit different parts of the world, live in different habitats, and, in the case of animals, eat some imaginable kinds of food and not others. As with many other familiar facts, it may not occur to us to ask why the geographic and ecological ranges of species are limited, until we realize that species vary drastically in their geographic, ecological, and physiological amplitudes. The bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) is broadly distributed in temperate climates of every continent (except Antarctica), whereas the curly-grass fern (Schizaea pusilla) is limited to parts of eastern Canada and central New Jersey in the United States. The black-billed magpie (Pica pica) is a familiar bird from western Europe through eastern Asia and from Alaska to the Great Plains of North America, but the very similar yellow-billed magpie (Pica nuttalli) is restricted to central California. What accounts for the much narrower distribution of one than the other species? Related species often differ in the variety of habitats they occupy. The thistle Cirsium canescens is restricted to well-drained sandhills in the American prairie, whereas Cirsium arvense is a European species that has become a rampant weed in North America, growing in many types of soil. The endangered Kirtland's warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii) nests only in stands of jack pine of a certain age, while its relatives, such as the yellow warbler (Dendroica aestiva), nest in many types of vegetation and have far broader geographic ranges as well. (Species with narrow and broad habitat associations are referred to as stenotopic and eurytopic, respectively.) Stenotopic species or populations frequently have a narrower tolerance of certain physical variables than do others. Most plants and animals from warm tropical environments cannot survive freezing temperatures, and Antarctic notothenioid fishes cannot tolerate temperatures above 6°C. In contrast, species that inhabit environments where the temperature varies widely often have broad temperature tolerance. In many such species, individuals are capable of biochemical and physiological alterations that acclimate them to pronounced changes in temperature.

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