|
Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060 EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 97, Num. 1, 2002, pp. 137-138
|
Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de
Janeiro, Vol. 97(1) 2002, pp. 137-138
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Flies (Calliphoridae, Muscidae)
and Beetles (Silphidae) from Human Cadavers in Cali, Colombia
Mauricio Barreto+, María Elena
Burbano, Pablo Barreto
Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad
de Salud, Universidad del Valle, A.A. 25360 Cali, Valle, Colombia
+Corresponding author. Fax: +90572-5542468. E-mail: mbarreto@mafalda.univalle.edu.co
Received 8 March 2001
Accepted 21 August 2001
Code Number: oc02026
Adult specimens of Cochliomyia
macellaria, Chrysomya megacephala, Ch. rufifacies, Lucilia
sp. (Calliphoridae), Musca domestica
(Muscidae), Oxelytrum discicolle
(Silphidae) and Sarcophagidae
were recovered from 12 human cadavers in Cali, Valle, Colombia. Information
regarding these findings is presented.
Key words: Chrysomya rufifacies - Chrysomya
megacephala Oxelytrum - forensic entomology - Colombia
Identifications of insects associated with human
cadavers are relatively few in the literature of the Neotropical region. Dunn
(1916) reported Hermetia illuscens (L.), a stratiomyid in Panama; Pessôa
and Lane (1941) presented previous records and reviewed necrophilous Scarabaeidae
from museums in Brazil; Jirón (1979), Jirón et al. (1983), Jirón
and Solano (1988) gave information on Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae
and Stratiomyidae of Costa Rica; and Carvalho et al. (2000) identified arthropods
associated with pig carrion and human corpses in Campinas, State of São
Paulo, Brazil. Recently, some experimental studies of forensic entomology have
been carried out in different regions of Colombia (Idrobo & Martínez
2000, Restrepo et al. 2000, Wolff & Uribe 2000). In Cali (3°26'N, 76°31'W,
1,000 m), Olaya (1999) determined the arthropod succession and the rates of
decomposition in dogs, but apparently no specific identifications of insects
found on human bodies have been published.
During different months of 1990 and 1991 insects
found on 16 human cadavers (14 men, 2 women) were collected at the Cali Institute
of Legal Medicine. The human bodies were in early stages of decomposition (fresh
or bloat) and they were found in urban and rural areas of the city, on empty
grass or bush fields. The victims, fully-clothed or half naked, had bullets
and/or stab wounds, and some were strangled. The insects captured were preserved
in alcohol and some were pinned, later in the entomology laboratory. The identifications
of the Calliphoridae were made with the work of Dear (1985); diagnoses of these
and some other flies were confirmed by Dr B Greenberg (University of Illinois
at Chicago). Specimens were deposited in the Arthropod Reference Collection
of the Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Salud, Universidad
del Valle.
A total of 70 adult insects were collected from
12 human bodies; the other 4 corpses contained only larvae and/or eggs of flies.
The species and number of adult insects recovered are given in the Table.
Also, 2 female Sarcophagidae were obtained from one cadaver, fly larvae and
eggs were present on 11 and 5 cadavers, respectively.
The Calliphoridae included Chrysomya megacephala
(F.) and Ch. rufifacies (Macquart), species that arrived in South and
Central America from Africa and the Australasian region, respectively (Baumgartner
& Greenberg 1984). Both species have been recorded in North America (Greenberg
1988) and were also found on dogs carcasses in the study of Olaya (1999).
The dispersion of the Chrysomya species
from Brazil and Costa Rica to the north has been more studied than the movement
of Ch. rufifacies to the south (Baumgartner 1993). Besides the record
of two specimens of this species by Mariluis and Schnack (1989) in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, no further information has been obtained in South America. The present
records from Cali are apparently the first for Colombia. This species was the
most abundant on the human cadavers examined, but the proportion of the native
Cochliomyia macellaria (F.) was also high, indicating a less severe competition
than in other areas (Baumgartner & Greenberg 1985) or experimental works
(Wells & Greenberg 1992a,b). More field controlled studies are necessary
to confirm these preliminary observations and to establish basic forensic entomology
information at Cali.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Dr JL Arredondo for collecting some of the
specimens, and to Dr B Greenberg for identification of material and suggestions
to the manuscript.
REFERENCES
- Baumgartner DL 1993. Review of Chrysomya
rufifacies (Diptera: Calliphoridae). J Med Entomol 30: 338-352.
- Baumgartner DL, Greenberg B 1984. The genus
Chrysomya (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in the New World. J Med Entomol
21: 105-113.
- Baumgartner DL, Greenberg B 1985. Distribution
and medical ecology of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of Peru. Ann
Entomol Soc Am 78: 565-587.
- Carvalho LML, Thyssen PJ, Linhares AX, Palhares
FAB 2000. A checklist of arthropods associated with pig carrion and human
corpses in southeastern Brazil. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 95: 135-138.
- Dear JP 1985. A revision of the New World
Chrysomyini (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Rev Bras Zool 3: 109-169.
- Dunn LH 1916. Hermetia illuscens breeding
in a human cadaver (Dipt.) Entomol News 27: 59-61.
- Greenberg B 1988. Chrysomya megacephala
(F.) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) collected in North America and notes on Chrysomya
species present in the New World. J Med Entomol 25: 199-200.
- Idrobo CJ, Martínez WA 2000. Interrelaciones
de insectos asociados a hígado humano en descomposición, Popayán,
Colombia. Resúmenes Congr Soc Col Entomol 27, p. 98.
- Jirón LF 1979. Sobre moscas califóridas
de Costa Rica (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha). Brenesia 16: 221-222.
- Jirón LF, Solano ME 1988. Notes on
the eclectical feeding preferences of the black soldier fly Hermetia
illuscens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) in Costa Rica. Brenesia 30:
101-103.
- Jirón LF, Vargas LG, Vargas-Alvarado
E 1982. Four muscoid flies (Sarcophagidae and Muscidae) associated with human
cadavers in Costa Rica. Brenesia 21: 1-5.
- Mariluis JC, Schnack JA 1989. Ecology of the
blow flies of an eusynanthropic habitat near Buenos Aires (Diptera, Calliphoridae).
Eos 65: 93-101.
- Olaya LA 1999. Estudio de la Entomofauna
Sucesional en el Cadáver de dos Cánidos en Condiciones de Campo,
BSc Thesis, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, 96 pp.
- Pessôa SB, Lane F 1941. Coleópteros
necrófagos de interésse médico-legal. Ensáio monográfico
sôbre a familia Scarabaeidae de São Paulo e regiões vizinhas.
Arq Zool Est São Paulo, II. Rev Mus Paulista 25: 389-504.
- Restrepo F, Valderrama R, Marín MA,
Cadavid GA 2000. Artropofauna cadavérica asociada con los estados de
descomposición del intervalo post-mortem en el cerdo Sus scrofa,
en dos medios ecológicos diferentes. Resúmenes Congr Soc Col
Entomol 27, p. 93.
- Wells JD, Greenberg B 1992a. Interaction between
Chrysomya rufifacies and Cochliomyia macellaria
(Diptera: Calliphoridae): the possible consequences of an invasion. Bull
Entomol Res 82: 133-137.
- Wells JD, Greenberg B 1992b. Laboratory interaction
between introduced Chrysomya rufifacies and native Cochliomyia
macellaria (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Environ Entomol 21: 640-645.
- Wolff M, Uribe A 2000. Sucesión de
insectos carroñeros en cerdo blanco (Sus scrofa). Memorias
Congr Soc Col Entomol 27: 177-185.
© 2002
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz - Fiocruz
The following images related to this document are available:
Photo images
[oc02026t1.jpg]
|