New Records Of Carrion Feeding Insects Collected On Human Remains

Arthropod species diversity was compared between two human corpses confined to a small geographic area during the winter and summer of 2004 in Santa Clara County, California. One of the primary flies collected from the corpse in the summer (Compsomyiops callipes) as well as two silphid species (Nicrophorus nigritus and Necrophilus hydrophiloides) in the winter appear to be new collection records on human remains. Different arthropod species were collected from both corpses and, in general, arthropods were more numerous on the corpse found in the summer. These differences can most likely be attributed to seasonal variation. This comparison demonstrates how seasonality impacts arthropod succession, often an important indicator of postmortem interval.