A preliminary investigation of the entomofauna composition of forensically important necrophagous insects in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The key role in forensic entomology is the study of entomofauna composition through species identification, succession, colonization, and developmental rate. In this study, rabbit carcasses were used as a model to identify the forensic insect species in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia. The appearance and succession of these insects can help in the estimation of the minimum postmortem interval (mPMI) and in many other applications in this region. During the decomposition process, the most important forensic insects observed were from the orders Diptera and Coleoptera. Seven species in five families of Diptera and four families of Coleoptera were identified. The most abundant species in the area that colonized the carcasses were Chrysomya albiceps Widemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and Dermestes maculatus De Geer, which can be used for mPMI estimations. This study was the first conducted in Al-Madinah Region to provide a qualitative assessment of forensically important necrophagous species in this region.

The subfamily Dermestinae (Coleoptera, Dermestidae) from Saudi Arabia

“… Dermestes maculatus is the most common species within the subfamily Dermestinae in Saudi Arabia. It was previously collected from rabbit carcasses at Baha ( Abouzied 2014 ), Al-Ahsa ( Shaalan et al 2017 ), t Madinah ( Al-Dakhil and Alharbi 2020 ), Jeddah ( Al-Shareef and Al-Mazyad 2017 ), and Riyadh ( Mashaly 2017 ). It has been collected from sheep carcasses in Jizan and Northern Border ( Mashaly et al 2018 ).…”

“…Despite the earlier published data documenting the Saudi fauna of Dermestinae ( Shalaby 1961 ; Mroczkowski 1979 ), forensic entomology in this country began only during the last two decades. Accordingly, several studies were conducted during this period in four areas: at the centre of the country ( Alajmi et al 2016 ; Mashaly 2017 ; Mashaly et al 2018 , 2019 ; Al-Qahtni et al 2020 ), in the east ( Shaalan et al 2017 ), in the west ( Al-Shareef and Al-Mazyad 2017 ; Al-Shareef and Zaki 2017 ; Al-Dakhil and Alharbi 2020 ), and in the southwest ( Abouzied 2014 ). Taxonomic and faunal studies are needed to support this growing interest in forensic entomology in Saudi Arabia.…”

“…The data on the distribution of the species in the subfamily Dermestinae ( Coleoptera , Dermestidae ) in Saudi Arabia is based on three main sources. The first are the historical works of Shalaby (1961) , Mroczkowski (1979) , Mroczkowski and Ślipiński (1997) , and additionally the recent publication of Abouzied (2014) , Abdel-Dayem et al (2017 , 2020 ), Al-Shareef and Zaki (2017) , Mashaly (2017) , Elgharbawy (2018) , Mashaly et al (2019) , Al-Dakhil and Alharbi (2020) , and Al-Qahtni et al (2020) . The second source are specimens preserved in the insect collections of the King Saud University Museum of Arthropods ( KSMA ) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Florida State Collection and Arthropods ( FSCA ), and the collection of the first author.…”

“…From the beginning of the 21 st century and during the last two decades, the forensic importance of dermestid beetles attracted the attention of many workers from Saudi Arabia (e.g., Abouzied 2014 ; Alajmi et al 2016 ; Al-Shareef and Al-Mazyad 2017 ; Al-Shareef and Zaki 2017 ; Mashaly 2017 ; Shaalan et al 2017 ; Mashaly et al 2018 , 2019 ; Al-Dakhil and Alharbi 2020 ; Al-Qahtni et al 2020 ). However, the faunistic data on Dermestinae were published as part of general surveys of insects or beetles ( Abdel-Dayem et al 2017 , 2020 ; Elgharbawy 2018 ).…”