Larvae of Forensically Important Flies associated with Rabbit Carcasses Placed in a Closed Room in Kuching, Sarawak

Introduction: This is the first report on insects associated with rabbit carcasses in indoor environment in Kuching, Sarawak. Methods: This study was conducted on June till August of 2016. Rabbit carcasses (Oryctolagous cuniculus) which were used as the animal model, were placed inside a dark room in a building at Forensic Medicine Department in Sarawak General Hospital. The fly larvae infesting on the carcasses were collected until the decomposition process completed. Throughout the 15 days of experiment, the fly larvae were sampled on the carcasses indoor at 28.9 ± 0.3 °C and 69.6 ± 1.0% humidity. Results: The fly larvae activity was observed during the active decay stage and was identified as Synthesiomyia nudiseta (van der Wulp, 1883) (Diptera: Muscidae) and Sarcophaga spp. (Diptera: Sarcophagidae). Only these two species were found co-existing on the carcasses. Conclusions: S. nudiseta and Sarcophaga spp. could be used as an entomological evidence involving indoor cases in Kuching, Sarawak because both species were dominant and active carcass decomposers in indoor environment.

Forensic Entomology: Arthropods collected on decomposing pig carrions in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria.

A data base of arthropods of forensic importance was collected from pig carrions from 10th June to 10th August 2017 in the Warri city, 3 pigs were killed by cervical dislocation and left to decay while the daily assemblage of arthropods were collected from it. The result showed 5 stages of the carrion decomposition; fresh, bloated, active decay, advance decay and dry decay correspondingly despite that there was only a single sequence of decomposition. Entomofauna groups from 3 orders of Diptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera, with ten families were collected during the study while 233 insects were collected at the fresh stage, 324 were collected at the bloat stage, and 328 were recorded at the active decay stage, 405 at the advance decay stage and only 158 at the dry decay stage. The dominance index was high (0.09) at the dry decay stage but low (0.06) at the bloat, active decay and advanced decay stages. Shannon–Wiener index (H) was high (2.91) in the advanced decay stage but was low (2.52) at the dry decay stage. Arthropod from the orders of Diptera and Coleoptera were forensically significant as they used the carcasses for feeding and oviposition and could be used in the estimation of the post mortem interval while the order Hymenoptera used the carrion as extension of their habitat and as predatory ground to the necrophagous groups, it is advocated that more studies be carried out in different seasons using different animal models to create dependable data base of forensically importance arthropods in Warri and its environs.

Forensic Entomology: an inventory of Arthropods collected on the decomposing pig Carrions during the dry season in Warri, Southern Nigeria

Arthropods found on the pig carrions in the dry season in the Warri city at 05°32’34.95"N and 05°44’39.834"E from 10th December 2017 to 10th February 2018 studied. Three pigs were killed and their decomposition monitored for 60 days, arthropods were collected with the aid of sweep nets, brushes, handpicking and pitfall traps while the soil below the decaying pig carrions were searched extensively twice daily for the first week and once daily for the remaining weeks. Data analysis was done by Microsoft excel while graphs were used to demonstrate the frequencies of the arthropods in every phase of decomposition, pie chart was used to elucidate stages of putrefaction and their respective periods. The outcome of the study showed five exclusive stages of decay: fresh, bloated, active decay, advance decay and dry decay correspondingly. The fresh stage took shortest days of 2 as the dry decay took longest days of 41. A total of 1495 arthropods were collected, at the fresh stage, there were 244 arthropods, while 213 were Diptera, only 19 were Hymenoptera and 12 were also Coleoptera but at the bloated stage of decomposition, a total of 273 arthropods were recorded, Diptera were 223 as hymenoptera were 21 and Coleoptera were 29 while at the active decay stage of decomposition there were a total of 437 arthropods, 333 of them were Diptera, 29 were Hymenoptera as 75 were Coleoptera but at the advance decay stage of decomposition, there were a total of 438 arthropods, 225 of them were Diptera, 30 were Hymenoptera as 91 were Coleoptera but at the dry decay stage of decomposition, only 195 arthropods were recorded, 96 of them were Diptera, 21 were Hymenoptera and 78 were Coleoptera in that order, for the reason that the Coleoptera and Diptera used the decaying pig carrions for breeding of their offspring, they could be used in the estimation of the time after death hence are of immense forensic importance while the role of the recorded Hymenoptera could also be of great importance as the tears and wears that they created on the carrions could be cause of error in the estimation of the time of death and their predatory role could also give a fake entomofauna documentation data, more researches of this nature are to be carried out in Warri city and other neighboring communities in order to document reliable database of arthropod of forensic importance in the oil rich city.

Flesh Flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) Attracted to a Snake Carcass (Boa constrictor) in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

A study was carried out to determine Sarcophagidae diversity attracted to the different stages of decomposition of a Boa constrictor cadaver during late winter in the Yucatan Peninsula. As a result of this study, seven species of Sarcophagidae were documented, Oxysarcodexia conclausa (Walker, 1861) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Peckia (Euboettcheria) volucris (Wulp, 1895) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Blaesoxipha (Gigantotheca) plinthopyga (Wiedemann, 1830) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Oxysarcodexia amorosa (Schiner, 1868) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Ravinia derelicta (Walker, 1853) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), Ravinia effrenata (Walker, 1861) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), and Titanogrypa (Cucullomyia) placida (Aldrich, 1925) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), The last five species listed are the first documentation of their presence in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Sarcophagids were present throughout the decomposition process; however, the greatest abundance and diversity of this family were present during the advanced decay stage. This is the first work on flesh flies in the region and the first in the country that has focused on wildlife.

Evaluating nitrite oxidizing organism survival under different nitrite concentrations

The objective of this study is to explore the optimal pre-treatment procedures and statistics methods for live/dead bacterial staining using nitrite oxidizing organism (NOO) as the research aim. This staining method was developed and widely utilized to evaluate activated bacterial survival situation, because it is direct and convenience to count live and dead bacteria amount by colour distinguishes (green/red) from pictures taken by microscope. The living cell (green colour) percentage and initial bacterial chemical oxygen demand (COD) could be used for accurate reaction rate calculation at the beginning of tests. While according to the physiological principles, the detection target was limited as the organism has a complete cell shape, that was applicable for the initial phase for decay stage (live cell → particulate dead cell), but it is impossible to evaluate the decayed soluble COD from particulate dead cell during whole reaction. To model the decay stage scientifically, a two-step decay model was developed to cater to the live/dead bacterial staining analysis of biological nitrite oxidizer under inhibition condition of high nitrite concentrations at 35 °C. As results of optimal pre-treatment, a three level ultrasonic wave with 45 seconds was explored, as a reasonable observed picture number, 30 sets with 95% confident interval for datasets statistics was summarized. A set of nitrite oxidizer inhibition test (total CODs and oxygen uptake rates) under high nitrite concentrations was simulated using the above model and obtained experimental schemes. Additionally, the disintegration enhancement from particulate dead cell to soluble COD by nitrite was inspected and modelled on the basis of experimental datasets.