Abstract
Necrophagous blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are of great importance particularly during investigations of suspicious deaths. Many studies have analyzed the distribution of blowflies based on pig experiments and baited trapping; however, data from real case scenarios are rarely used. In this article, the distribution of blowflies found during investigations of 160 real cases during 1993–2007 in Switzerland is evaluated based on habitat, altitude, and season. Ten species of blowflies were present in 145 out of the 160 cases. The most common species was Calliphora vicina, which occurs throughout the year and was present in 69 % of all cases. Lucilia sericata, Calliphora vomitoria, and L. caesar were identified among the rest of the flies as species of great forensic importance mainly due to their distributional patterns. After a comparison with a similar dataset from Frankfurt, Germany, some surprising differences were determined and discussed. The biggest discrepancies between our dataset and the German dataset were in the occurrences of L. sericata (30 % vs. 86 %, respectively), Phormia regina (5 % vs. 43 %), and L. ampullacea (1 % vs. 45 %). The life-history strategies and intraspecific behavioral variability of blowflies remain understudied, although they can be essential for an unbiased approach during a death investigation. Further research and comparison of occurrence patterns across the area of distribution of blowflies are therefore needed and recommended.
Highlights
The blowflies belong to the most important family of necrophagous Diptera used during forensic investigations
Blowflies were present in 145 out of 160 real case investigations of dead bodies in our dataset, which is in concordance with the widespread image of blowflies being the most important family of necrophagous flies used for criminal investigations [1, 2]
This study is the first research using a large dataset of real cases for systematic study with a focus on the spatio-temporal and altitudinal distribution of blowflies in Switzerland
Summary
The blowflies belong to the most important family of necrophagous Diptera used during forensic investigations Species of this family are usually common, highly abundant and among the first colonizers of a dead body [1, 2]. The bottle traps certainly can serve as a basic tool for monitoring of blowflies; the attractiveness depends on the type of bait used Such traps can induce biases, because they can be neglected or even avoided by certain species due to their preferred diet [3, 15,16,17] and care should be taken when extrapolating such results to case scenarios [18, 19].
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