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Development and validation of a new technique for estimating a minimum postmortem interval using adult blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) carcass attendance

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Abstract

Understanding the onset and duration of adult blow fly activity is critical to accurately estimating the period of insect activity or minimum postmortem interval (minPMI). Few, if any, reliable techniques have been developed and consequently validated for using adult fly activity to determine a minPMI. In this study, adult blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of Cochliomyia macellaria and Chrysomya rufifacies were collected from swine carcasses in rural central Texas, USA, during summer 2008 and Phormia regina and Calliphora vicina in the winter during 2009 and 2010. Carcass attendance patterns of blow flies were related to species, sex, and oocyte development. Summer-active flies were found to arrive 4–12 h after initial carcass exposure, with both C. macellaria and C. rufifacies arriving within 2 h of one another. Winter-active flies arrived within 48 h of one another. There was significant difference in degree of oocyte development on each of the first 3 days postmortem. These frequency differences allowed a minPMI to be calculated using a binomial analysis. When validated with seven tests using domestic and feral swine and human remains, the technique correctly estimated time of placement in six trials.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the staff of the Texas State University Forensic Anthropology Research Facility for providing access to human remains, and to Dr. Jennifer Pechal and Dr. Eric Benbow for providing the sample material from Ohio. The feral hog was obtained as the remainder of a Texas A&M AUP-approved hog ectoparasite study. Roy W. Vajdak provided the pasture access. This publication represents part of RMM’s dissertation. Partial financial support for this research was provided by the Department of Entomology and Agrilife Research at Texas A&M University.

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  1. Department of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Rachel M. Mohr

  2. Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Rachel M. Mohr & Jeffery K. Tomberlin

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  1. Rachel M. Mohr
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  2. Jeffery K. Tomberlin
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Correspondence to Rachel M. Mohr.

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Mohr, R.M., Tomberlin, J.K. Development and validation of a new technique for estimating a minimum postmortem interval using adult blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) carcass attendance. Int J Legal Med 129, 851–859 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-014-1094-x

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