Abstract
Africa, over a year. Sarcophaga africa Wiedemann, 1824, S. inaequalis Austen, 1909, S. exuberans Pandelle, 1896 and S. tibialis Macquart, 1851 showed well-defined peaks between early October 2001 and late April 2002, and only S. africa was trapped at other times of year. These peaks occurred when average minimum and maximum ambient air temperatures were above 12°C and 22°C, respectively, and showed no obvious relationship to rainfall. There were indications of population cycles in all of these species. Sarcophaga hera Zumpt, 1972, S. arno Curran, 1934, S. inzi Curran, 1934, S. langi Curran, 1934, S. freyi Zumpt, 1953, S. nodosa Engel, 1925 and S. samia Curran, 1934 were too scarce to assess their patterns of occurrence rigorously. Insects attending a corpse are reputed to assist forensic entomologists in estimating the time of year when the body died. Some flesh flies provide more precise estimates than others, so several species should be used for cross-validation. Insect activity at a corpse depends on the weather, so that presence of a species indicates particular environmental conditions and not simply calendar dates (particularly if climate changes). Absence of a species is not necessarily evidence of specific conditions because species may not be present at all sites simultaneously, populations cycle even when their members are active, and low population densities may hamper detection of a species.
Highlights
Texts about forensic entomology claim that the presence of certain insects on a corpse may provide information about the time of year when the corpse died (Smith 1986, Byrd and Castner 2010, Fremdt and Amendt 2014)
Eleven species of flesh fly were identified in a sample of 737 specimens captured during fortnightly trapping at three sites in Grahamstown, South Africa, over a year
Sarcophaga africa Wiedemann, 1824, S. inaequalis Austen, 1909, S. exuberans Pandellé, 1896 and S. tibialis Macquart, 1851 showed well-defined peaks between early October 2001 and late April 2002, and only S. africa was trapped at other times of year
Summary
Texts about forensic entomology claim that the presence of certain insects on a corpse may provide information about the time of year when the corpse died (Smith 1986, Byrd and Castner 2010, Fremdt and Amendt 2014). A year-long carrion fly monitoring programme in Grahamstown provided an opportunity to explore whether southern African flesh flies might be relevant in this context. Assuming that the flies that are attracted to the carrion used to bait the monitoring traps are representative of the flies likely to colonise a corpse, these data can be used to test the assumption that particular species of flesh fly are attracted to corpses during only specific times of year. It can be hypothesised that flesh flies are active only at these times of year because that is when environmental conditions such as temperature lie between physiological thresholds for activity (cf. Richards et al 2009a)
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