Description of the puparium and other notes on the morphological and molecular identification of Phthitia empirica (Diptera, Sphaeroceridae) collected from animal carcasses

Abstract

Background: A correct identification of species is fundamental in order to derive all the biological, ecological, and behavioral information useful to reconstruct previous events when insects are used in forensic and funerary archaeological contexts. Little attention was paid in the past to the description of the immature stages of flies, especially of species belonging to family found only occasionally on human cadavers and animal carrion. Sphaeroceridae species belong to this category. Results: In this work, adult and puparia of Phthitia empirica (Hutton, 1901) are illustrated and described. In addition, some observations about the molecular identification of this species are presented and discussed. Conclusions: This work will allow the identification of puparia of this species providing additional tools in forensic entomological investigation. More in general, the effort of producing morphological descriptions and molecular information of species of potential forensic interest clearly implements the possibility to provide a deeper understanding of the peri-and post-mortem events in violent crimes.

First record of Physyphora alceae (Preyssler, 1791) (Diptera, Ulidiidae) from a forensic case in Northern Italy: description of immature stages, DNA barcoding and phylogenetic analysis

“…Six dipteran species were identified within the entomological assemblage collected from the cadaver of the woman (Table III), however, according to the purposes of this article only Physiphora alceae (Preyssler, 1791) (Ulidiinae) is described in detail being recorded from a cadaver in Italy for the first time. The other taxa are already known from cadavers and reported from Italian forensic cases or archaeological contexts (Turchetto et al 2001;Turchetto & Vanin 2004;Bugelli et al 2015;Giordani et al 2018Giordani et al , 2019aGiordani et al , 2019bGiordani & Vanin 2020).…”

“…However, sometimes it can be obstructed by the lack of experts and by the limited information concerning the immature stages (i.e. larvae and puparia) (Giordani et al 2018(Giordani et al , 2019aGiordani & Vanin 2020). Nevertheless, even if specific identification keys are available, a poor state of preservation of the specimens may negatively affect the morphological analysis thus preventing the accurate identification of the samples (Bortolini et al 2018;Pradelli et al 2019).…”

“…It is worth mentioning that much research has been dedicated to the most common taxa of forensic interest, especially in the families Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae and Muscidae, whereas little effort has been directed towards less common taxa (Tuccia et al 2016a). These "secondary taxa" collected from a corpse could as well provide important information (Smith 1986;Sessa et al 2019;Giordani et al 2019b;Giordani & Vanin 2020).…”

Morphological and molecular characterization of puparia of Piophilidae species of forensic relevance

“…Properly illustrated descriptions of puparial morphology are therefore needed to enable the reliable identification of material collected either at a forensic scene or an archaeological site. Regrettably, with very few exceptions (Giordani et al, 2018; Giordani & Vanin, 2020; Tuccia et al, 2021), morphological studies of the puparia of fly species of forensic and archaeological relevance have been neglected.…”

Puparia Cleaning Techniques for Forensic and Archaeo-Funerary Studies

“…Due to its high resistance to decay, puparia can be found in crime scenes [14,15], and they are particularly important in old cases when other developmental stages are no longer present. Moreover, these structures can be found even in archaeological contexts, where they might be the only traces of insect activity left after centuries or millennia [11,[16][17][18].…”