Exclusion of forensically important flies due to burying behavior by the red imported fire ant ( Solenopsis invicta ) in southeast Texas

• Published in: Forensic science international Vol. 204; no. 1; pp. e1 - e3
• Main Authors: Lindgren, Natalie K, Bucheli, Sibyl R, Archambeault, Alan D, Bytheway, Joan A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30.01.2011; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Animals; Ants; Burial; Decomposition; Diptera; Entomology; Erroneous postmortem interval estimation; Exclusion of flies; Feeding Behavior; Forensic entomology; Forensic Pathology; Forensic sciences; Human remains; Humans; Insects; Larva; Male; Pathology; Postmortem Changes; Red imported fire ant; Solenopsis invicta; Texas; Texas; Erroneous postmortem interval estimation; Exclusion of flies; Red imported fire ant; Forensic entomology; Solenopsis invicta
• ISSN: 0379-0738; 1872-6283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2010.05.016

Abstract On March 3, 2009, the remains of an adult male were partially buried at the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science (STAFS) Facility at the Center for Biological Field Studies (CBFS), Sam Houston State University, Texas. The individual was buried except for a small portion of the left abdominal region. A postmortem incised wound was created in the exposed area with the intention of attracting carrion flies. Worker ants of a colony of Solenopsis invicta Buren 1972 (red imported fire ant) filled in the wound with soil, thereby monopolizing the exposed area of the corpse and excluding expected carrion insects from the wound. During the bloating phase, approximately nine days after burial, normal decomposition processes of the gut created a sufficient disruption of the ants, such that flies oviposited and larvae were able to colonize the corpse. Estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) based on the minimum period of fly activity would be severely skewed should the remains be discovered at this point and growth rate of Diptera larvae be used as the primary determinant for the PMI. While S. invicta is an expected member of a carrion ecosystem in southeastern Texas, and is known to distort the PMI estimation through larval and egg removal, the complete exclusion of flies from the wound by the burial behavior of S. invicta was an unexpected and until now an unpublished occurrence.