Scanning electron microscopy of third-instar sarcophagid (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) recovered from a mummified human corpse in Thailand

Abstract

The third-instar of an unidentified sarcophagid, recovered from a mummified body of a 32-yr-old Thai male was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Although the morphological features of this larva are similar to the other sarcophagid larvae, some features could be helpful for species identification, which is a basic requirement for estimation of postmortem interval in forensic investigation. These features included number and arrangement of papillae on the anterior spiracle, structure of spines, size of circumspiracular tubercles at caudal segment and branching peculiarity of the posterior spiracular hairs. This information could benefit future identification of the sarcophagid larvae that exist in Thailand.

Comparative morphology of early stages of two Mediterranean Sarcophaga Meigen, 1826 (Diptera; Sarcophagidae) and a review of the feeding habits of Palaearctic species

“…The arrangement of the spinules in the spiracular atrium of S. hirticrus (as far as the outer circumference of the ring of tubercles) is similar to that found in S. exuberans (Aspoas, 1991), whereas in S. javita, S. tibialis and S. dux (Aspoas, 1991;Sukontason et al, 2003) these spinules are extended only as far as the inner circumference of the ring.…”

“…Within the Sarcophagidae, larvae of some species of the genera Oxysarcodexia and Ravinia , Sarcophaga (Aspoas, 1991;Kirk-Spriggs, 1999, 2003Sukontason et al, 2003) and Wohlfahrtia (Ruiz-Martínez et al, 1989), have been described using of SEM. The increase of this kind of study is a consequence that the knowledge of the morphology of the immature stages receiving more attention due to their use in medico-forensic entomology.…”

“…It should also be interesting to describe the surface, ornamentation, shape and size of the mouthhooks in Ruiz-Martínez, 1990;Sukontason et al, 2003;Awad et al, 2003) in order to assist its penetration into carrion or wounds of animals, whereas Ravinia belforti show a mouthhook with delicate pits and ridges (Leite and Souza, 1987). In the pseudocephalon of S. hirticrus, the palps and the antennae, are situated on a conical prominence.…”

“…The larval stages of many species of Sarcophagidae are necrophagous and for this reason those species termed 'flesh-flies' are significant in forensic entomology, being second only to the Calliphoridae (Diptera) in terms of their usefulness. Precise knowledge and precise diagnoses of their immature stages therefore have a very practical application in estimating the postmortem interval (Sukontason et al, 2003;Wells et al, 2001). Other species of Sarcophaginae and Miltogramminae are predatory on invertebrates (e.g.…”

“…In some cases, detailed descriptions of larvae implicated in traumatic human myiasis (Colwell and O'Connor, 2000;Zumpt, 1965) or found infesting mummified human remains have been published (Sukontason et al, 2003), but in these cases the descriptions have not been attributed to any named species, as adults were not obtained. Therefore, the breeding habits should be related to morphological and taxonomic knowledge in order to improve biological and practical considerations.…”