Temporal variability of the rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) community on small vertebrate carrion and its potential use for forensic entomology

Weithmann, Sandra; Hoermann, Christian von; Degasperi, Gregor; Brandt, Katharina; Steiger, Sandra; Ayasse, Manfred

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110792

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…avoid interspecific competition by having a wider feeding preference (Braack 1987). Our results are similar to other studies that examined Coleoptera arrival patterns in relation to coarser decay stages, finding that most species delay arriving until active decay (Sharanowski et al 2008;Battán Horenstein and Linhares 2011;Castro et al 2013;Weithmann et al 2021). The narrow window of peak abundance of the clerid N. rufipes, and its strong association with resource change, suggest that this species could provide more accurate PMI estimations than species with peak abundance spread over a wider window.…”

Section: Adult Abundances Reveal Timing Of High Resource Qualitysupporting

confidence: 88%

Insect abundance patterns on vertebrate remains reveal carrion resource quality variation

et al. 2022

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Resource quality is a key driver of species abundance and community structure. Carrion is unique among resources due to its high nutritional quality, rapidly changing nature, and the diverse community of organisms it supports. Yet the role resource quality plays in driving variation in abundance patterns of carrion-associated species remains poorly studied. Here we investigate how species abundances change with a measure of resource change, and interpret these findings to determine how species differ in their association with carrion that changes in quality over time. We conducted field succession experiments using pigs and humans over two winters and one summer. We quantified the effect of total body score, an objective measure of resource change, on adult insect abundance using generalised additive models. For each species, phases of increasing abundance likely indicated attraction to a high-quality resource, and length of abundance maxima indicated optimal oviposition and feeding time. Some species such as the beetle Necrobia rufipes had a rapid spike in abundance, suggesting a narrow window of opportunity for carrion resource exploitation, while species like the wasp Nasonia vitripennis had a gradual change in abundance, indicating a wide window of resource exploitation. Different abundance patterns were also observed between species occurring on pigs and humans, suggesting cadaver type is an important aspect of resource quality. Our findings show that species abundances, unlike species occurrences, can reveal additional detail about species exploitation of carrion and provide information about how resource quality may drive competition and variation in insect community succession.

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Section: Adult Abundances Reveal Timing Of High Resource Qualitysupporting

confidence: 88%

Insect abundance patterns on vertebrate remains reveal carrion resource quality variation

et al. 2022

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“…It must be critically questioned to what extent the beetle species reflect realistic numbers, especially since usually numerous species of Nitidulidae [12,27] or Staphylinidae [28] are to be expected on a cadaver in the field. As an example, Weithmann et al [29] determined 80 rove beetle species that were attracted to piglet cadavers across various forest stands in Germany. The possible "undersampling" of beetles in this study is partly due to the fact that the non-trained staff mainly look for fly maggots because there are more common and easier to spot and therefore may simply overlook the beetles, and partly due to the fact that the majority of cases were in an indoor scenario, where beetles are less common and abundant as outdoors.…”

Section: Infestation Rate and Insect Taxonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

It is all about the insects: a retrospective on 20 years of forensic entomology highlights the importance of insects in legal investigations

et al. 2021

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This study highlights the importance of insect evidence by evaluating 949 insect-associated cases, including 139 entomological reports, from 2001 to 2019 at the Institute of Legal Medicine Frankfurt/Germany. With a high number of cases in the summer months and a low number in the colder season, 78.5% of the bodies were found indoors, regardless of year or month. In more than 80% of the cases, where PMI information was available (n = 704), the presumed PMI ranged from 1 to 21 days, a period during which entomological evidence can provide a day-specific estimate of PMImin. In cases where insects have been identified to species level (n = 279), most bodies were infested by one or two species with a maximum of 10 different species. Overall, a total of 55 insect species were found. Information on biology, activity and distribution of the most abundant taxa is given and applied for 5 case histories estimating different PMImins of up to over 6 months. Despite proved importance and scientific development of forensic entomology, insects are still rarely considered as a tool in forensic case work. The main reasons are a lack of awareness and (too) late involvement of a forensic entomologist. Our work shows that forensic entomology is an independent discipline that requires specialist expertise.

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“…The most abundant dipteran families on carcasses are: carrion flies (Calliphoridae), flesh flies (Sarcophagidae) and stable flies (Muscidae) (Matuszewski et al 2010, Grzywacz et al 2017, Buenaventura et al 2021). The coleopteran community on carrion is dominated by: burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorinae), clown beetles (Histeridae), rove beetles (Staphylinidae), round fungus beetles (Leiodidae) and dung beetles (Geotrupidae and Scarabaeidae) (Watson and Carlton 2005, Matuszewski et al 2011, Prado e Castro et al 2012, Mądra et al 2015, von Hoermann et al 2018, 2020b, Weithmann et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evisceration residues from hunted roe deer as a resource for necrophagous insect fauna in the Black Forest, Germany: a preliminary study

et al. 2022

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Carrion of wild ungulates is an important resource for microbes, invertebrates and vertebrates, and affects local plant communities and soils. Most wild ungulates in central Europe, however, are intensely hunted and removed from the ecosystem, thus not available as carrion. This study explores the use of evisceration residues as a resource by necrophagous insects in a temperate mountainous forest in Germany. We experimentally compared the relative abundance of necrophagous insects between sites of caged roe deer carcasses and evisceration residues of roe deer using pitfall‐traps. While evisceration residues were used by necrophagous insects, significantly more individuals were sampled at entire deer carcasses; when corrected for biomass, however, no significant difference in abundance for Coleoptera groups was found. Overall, evisceration residues were used earlier and for a shorter period than entire deer carcasses. Leaving evisceration residues on site where game animals are obtained might help maintain specialized necrophagous insect communities, although their ecological role cannot completely replace that of whole carcasses of wild ruminants.

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Temporal variability of the rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) community on small vertebrate carrion and its potential use for forensic entomology

Cited by 8 publications

References 38 publications

Insect abundance patterns on vertebrate remains reveal carrion resource quality variation

Insect abundance patterns on vertebrate remains reveal carrion resource quality variation

It is all about the insects: a retrospective on 20 years of forensic entomology highlights the importance of insects in legal investigations

Evisceration residues from hunted roe deer as a resource for necrophagous insect fauna in the Black Forest, Germany: a preliminary study

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