Dermestes maculatus as first colonizer in a case involving a human corpse in Colombia

ZANETTI N. I; YARDANY RAMOS-PASTRANA; ERIC CÓRDOBA-SUAREZ

ACTA AMAZONICA

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia - INPA

Año: 2022 vol. 52 p. 241 - 244

0044-5967

Insects attracted to cadavers can be used to estimate postmortem interval (PMI). In this study, a sample of insects associated with a dressed human cadaver that was enclosed with a woolen blanket tied to a stone in a closed and aquatic environment was found and analyzed to determine PMI. Inmature stages and adults of Chrysomya albiceps and Dermestes maculatus were collected. Furthermore, an experience with a pig carcass was conducted under the same conditions the human cadaver was found to verify the emersion time. This began 3 days after carcass submersion. mPMI was 20 days and approximately 1.5 h. The data present in this work illustrates the use of D. maculatus and C. albiceps to determine time of death under particular conditions, being the beetle species the first colonizer.