The "Coffin Fly" Conicera tibialis (Diptera: Phoridae) Breeding on Buried Human Remains After a Postmortem Interval of 18 Years
2011
Martín Vega, Daniel | Gómez Gómez, Aida María | Baz Ramos, Arturo | Universidad de Alcalá. Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida | Unidad Docente Zoología y Antropología Física
The "coffin fly," Conicera tibialis Schmitz (Order: Diptera, Family: Phoridae), is well known for its frequent occurrence on buried corpses, in some cases after postmortem intervals of even 3-5 years. The present report describes the presence of a large amount of individuals of C. tibialis inside the coffin of a buried human corpse exhumed 18 years after death in central Spain. Adults, some of them newly emerged, and empty puparia were found in connection with the remains. Such postmortem interval is significantly longer than previously known for this species and raises the question on the current state of knowledge about the use of insects for estimating the postmortem interval in old, buried remains.
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