Vol. 107, No. 4, September & October, 1996 233 THE OCCURRENCE OF NITIDULA FLAVOMACULATA (COLEOPTERA: NITIDULIDAE) ON A HUMAN CORPSE 1 2 3 Thomas W. Adair , Boris C. Kondratieff Nitidula ABSTRACT: We report the infestation of a human corpse by the Palearctic nitidulid beetle flavomaculata in Adams County, Colorado. The human corpse was discovered in early January. This introduced beetle may have become a member of the cold-season carrion community, previ- the Front of Colorado. ously dominated by a fly, the cheese skipper, Piophila casei, along Range Under various environmental conditions, a human corpse is colonized by insects. an array of necrophagous and saprophagous arthropods, particularly This succession of species has been described or reviewed by many authors, including Leclercq (1969), Nuorteva (1977), Rodriguez and Bass (1983), Simpson (1985), Smith (1986), Catts and Haskell (1990), and Goff and Flynn (1991). During the warm months of the year, flies (Diptera) are the major initial decomposers. Species of Calliphoridae (blow flies) and Sarcophagidae (flesh flies) are known as important forensic indicators (Greenberg 1991). A wide beetles. variety of insects besides these flies colonize a corpse, including Spe- cific beetles (e.g. species of Cleridae, Dermestidae, Histeridae, Nitidulidae, Scarabaeidae, Silphidae and Staphylinidae) that feed on carrion have been docu- 198 1 and Shubeck mented by Morley (1907), Payne and King (1970), Crowson ( ), etal. (1981). Janu- A clothed, partially decayed human female corpse was discovered on examination ary 1 1, 1996 in a field in Thornton, Adams County, Colorado. An of the body revealed numerous puparia containing pharate adults of the black the larvae of the blow fly, Phormia regina (Meigen) and cheese-skipper, Piophila in the head casei (L.) (Diptera: Piophilidae). The piophilid larvae were found and shoulder area of the corpse. Also found were large numbers of Nitidulidae the larvae in the genital area of the victim. An adult beetle was recovered during autopsy. Larvae were collected and reared on chicken livers, and the subse- quent adult beetles were identified as the Palearctic Nitidulaflavomaculata Rossi. The presence of pre-emergent P. regina adults in puparia at the crime scene indicated the victim was left in the field sometime during the last two weeks of 1 Received April 8, 1996. Accepted April 28, 1996. 2 Westminster Police Department, Crime Laboratory, 8800 N. Sheridan Blvd., Westminster, CO 80030. 3 Department of Entomology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. ENT. NEWS 107(4) 233-236, September & October, 1996 234 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS September or early October. The average minimum developmental time of P. regina under ideal temperature conditions is about 14-16 days along the Front Range of Colorado. Air temperature records provided by the City of Northglenn Water Treatment Plant, 5.6 km from the crime scene indicated that after Octo- ber 21, 1995, adult blowfly egg laying activity or emergence would have ceased for the remainder of the season. Based on the temperature data, a three week window where temperatures averaged 13C occurred in the last two weeks of September or early October. Subsequent air temperatures probably precluded any blowfly activity. Following the identification of the victim, it was deter- mined that she was reported missing on September 20, 1995. Our collection is the first report of N. flavomaculata on a human corpse. This species is a native of Europe and has also been reported from North Africa, the Near East and the U.S. (Parsons 1943). The senior author also col- lected N. flavomaculata from exposed pig carcasses at the Highlands Ranch Law Enforcement Training Facility P.I.G. site. Individual beetles were collected in July, August, and January 1 996 (5, 6, and 1 1 months after carcass deposition, respectively). This record of N. flavomaculata adds an additional species to the cold- season carrion community along the Front Range of Colorado. Generally dur- ing the winter (November through April), exposed corpses are colonized only by P. casei and occasionally by several species of Dermestes. Nitidulids or "sap-beetles" are well-known as important members of the carrion feeding community (Payne 1965 andShubecke/a/. 1981). InShubeck's et al. study, nitidulids comprised over 35% of all beetles collected from the carrion. The most common species was Omosita colon (L.), an introduced Eur- asian or Holarctic species. Both Nitidula and Omosita are associated usually with the decay and dry stages of carcasses (Edwards 1949, Reed 1958, Payne and King 1970). Both genera feed on fluids exuding from decomposing carrion (Shubeck et al. 1981). Additionally, adults of carrion feeding Nitidulidae have been reported to become more abundant later in the season (Reed 1958, Payne 1965). Nitidulids have been previously recorded from human corpses (Rodriquez and Bass 1983). Nitidula bipunctata (L.) has been found associated in Europe with carrion, including human corpses (Zacker 1927, Kemper 1939). We present an illustration (Fig. 1) of the habitus of N. flavomaculata to aid other workers in the identification of this species. Illustrations of other nitidulid species mentioned are available in Hinton (1945) and USDA (1991). Speci- mens of N. flavomaculata are deposited in the C. P. Collection of Arthropod Diversity, Colorado State University. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are grateful to Dr. Stephen W. Bullington, Falls Creek, PA and Dr. Richard E. Johnsen, Colorado State University for reading a draft of this paper. Lynn C. Bjork, Larval Fish Laboratory, Colorado State University provided the illustration. Vol. 107, No. 4, September & October, 1996 235 Figure 1. Nitidula flavomaculata Rossi, habitus, length 4.5 mm. 236 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS LITERATURE CITED Catts, E. P. and N. H. Haskell. 1990 Entomology and death: A procedural guide. Joyce's Print Shop, Inc., Clemson, South Carolina, 182 pp. Crowson, R. A. 1981. The biology of the Coleoptera. Academic press, London. Edwards, G. J. 1949. Coleoptera or beetles East of the Great Plains. Edwards Brothers, Inc. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Goff, M. L. and M. M. Flynn. 1 99 1 . Determination of postmortem interval by arthropod succes- sion: A case study from the Hawaiian Islands. J. Forensic Sci. 36: 607-614. Greenberg, B. 1991. Flies as forensic indicators. J. Med. Entomol. 28: 565-577. Hinton, H. E. 1945. A monograph of the beetles associated with stored products. Vol. 1. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London. Kemper, H. 1939. Die Nahrungs-und Genussmittelschadlinge und ihre Bekampfung. Monogr. Hyg. Zool. Leipzig 6: 1-270. Leclercq, M. 1969. 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