Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Associated with Pig Carcasses in an Urban Area
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v62i4.795Keywords:
Behavior, ant, pig carcass, forensic entomologyAbstract
The study of cadaver fauna is the most important aspect of forensic entomology, and it is based on successional patterns of insects that feed on decaying carcasses. Many ant species have scavenger lifestyles, and thus have the potential for use in forensic entomology studies. There are no previous studies of ant fauna as forensic entomology tools in state of Maranhão. Here we characterize ants found on domestic swine carcasses at different stages of decomposition, with the goal of initiating a forensic entomology database in the state. We collected ants between November and December 2012 on two pig carcasses. A third carcass with no ant collection was used as a control to assess the influence of ant removal on decomposition rate. We captured 1,692 Formicidae in total, distributed among 10 genera and including 17 species. The most abundant species was Solenopsis saevissima, with 55.6% of relative abundance. Solenopsis was present at various stages of decomposition either feeding on carcass tissues or exudates, or preying on larval, pupal and newly emerged adult flies. Ants associated with this environment had high species richness and abundance in all stages of decomposition. We suggest that these insects influence the decomposition process either as facilitators (i.e., by laceration and fragmentation of tissue) or as hindering agents (i.e., due to predation upon other scavenging organisms).
Downloads
References
Agosti, D., Majer, J.D., Alonso, L.E. & Shultz, T.R. (2000). Ants, standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity. Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 280 p.
Barbosa, L.P. & Fernandes, W.D. (2003). Bait removal by ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in managed and unmanaged Eucalyptus urophylla S. T. Blake Fields. Braz. J. Ecol. 8: 61-63.
Bestelmeyer, B.T., Agosti, D., Alonso, L.E., Brandão, C.R.F., Brown Jr, W.L., Delabie, J.H.C. & Silvestre, R. (2000). Field techniques for the study of ground-living ants: an overview, description, and evaluation. In D. Agosti, J.D. Majer, L.T. Alonso & T. Schultz (Eds), Ants: Standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity (pp. 122-144). Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press.
Biavati, G.M., Santana, F.H.A. & Pujol-Luz, J.R. (2010). A Checklist of Calliphoridae blowflies (Insecta, Diptera) associated with a pig carrion in Central Brazil. J. For. Sciences 55: 1603–1606. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01502.x
Bonacci, T., Brandmayr, T.Z., Brandmayr, P., Vercillo, V. & Porcelli, F. (2011). Successional patterns of the insect fauna on a pig carcass in southern Italy and the role of Crematogaster scutellaris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as a carrion invader. Entomol. Sci. 14: 125–132. doi: 10.1111/j.1479- 8298.2010.00423.x
Brown Jr., W.L. (1973). A comparison of the Hylean and Congo-West African rain forest ant faunas. In B.J. Meggers, E.S. Ayensu & W.O. Ouckworth (Eds), Tropical forest ecosystems in Africa and south America: a comparative review (pp. 161- 185). Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 350 p.
Carvalho, L.M.L., Thyssen, P.J., Goff, M.L. & Linhares, A.X. (2004). Observations on the succession patterns of necrophagous insects on a pig carcass in an urban area of Southeastern Brazil. Anil Aggrawal’s Internet J. Forensic Med Toxicol 5: 33-39.
Carvalho, L.M.L., Thyssen, P.J., Linhares, A. X. & Palhares, F.A.B. (2000). A checklist of arthropods associated with pig carrion and human corpses in Southeastern Brazil. Mem. I. Oswaldo Cruz 95: 135-138. doi: 10.1590/S0074- 02762000000100023
Carvalho, P.E.R. (2015). Árvores do conhecimento. Espécies arbóreas brasileiras: Clima. http://www.agencia.cnptia. embrapa.br/gestor/especies_arboreas_brasileiras/arvore/ CONT000fuvkopvr02wyiv80166sqf7sqp8bt.html (data de acesso: 25 Outubro, 2015).
Catts, E.P. & Goff, M.L. (1992). Forensic entomology in criminal investigations. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 37: 253-272. doi: 10.1146/annurev.en.37.010192.001345
Chin, H.C., Marwi, M.A., Hashim, R., Abdullah, N.A., Dhang, C.C., Jeffery, J., Kurahashi, H. & Omar, B. (2009). Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) associated with pig carcasses in Malaysia. Trop. Biomed. 26: 106–109.
Cornaby, B.W. (1974). Carrion reduction by animals in contrasting tropical habitats. Biotropica 6: 51-63. doi: 10.2307/2989697
Cruz, T.M. & Vasconcelos, S.D. (2006). Entomofauna de solo associada à decomposição de carcaça de suíno em um fragmento de mata atlântica de Pernambuco, Brasil. Biociências 14: 193-201.
Delabie, J.H.C. & Fowler, H.G. (1995). Soil and litter cryptic ant assemblages of Bahian cocoa plantations. Pedobiologia 39: 423-433.
Early, M. & Goff, M. L. (1986). Arthropod succession patterns in exposed carrion on the island of Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, USA. J. Med. Entomol. 23: 520-531.
Fernandes, W.D., Cruz, M.C.A., Faccenda, O. & Valente, T.O. (2000). Impacto de herbicidas em uma guilda de formigas predadoras. Rev. Bras. Herbic. 1: 225-231.
Fernandes, W.D., Carvalho, S.L. & Habib, M.E.M. (2001). Between-season attraction of cotton boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boh. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) adults by its aggregation pheromone. Sci. Agric. 58: 229-234.
Fowler, H.G.L., Forti, C., Brandão, C.R.F., Delabie, J.H.C. & Vasconcelos, H.L. (1991). Ecologia nutricional de formigas. In A.R. Panizzi & J.R.P. Parra (Eds), Ecologia nutricional de insetos e suas implicações no manejo de pragas (pp. 131-209). São Paulo, Manole, 376 p.
Freire, O. (1914). Algumas notas para o estudo da fauna cadavérica na Bahia. Gazeta Med. Bahia 46: 110-125.
Goff, M.L. & Win, B.H. (1997). Estimation of postmortem interval based on colony development time for Anoplolepsis longipes (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Forensic Sci. 42: 1176–1179.
Goff, M.L. (2009). Early post-mortem changes and stages of decomposition in exposed cadavers. Exp. Appl. Acarol., 49: 21-36. doi: 10.1007/s10493-009-9284-9.
Gomes, L., Gomes, G., Oliveira, H.G., Morlin Junior, J.J., Desuo, I. C., Carvalho-Queiroz, M.M., Giannotti, E. & Von Zuben, C.J. (2007). Occurrence of Hymenoptera on Sus scrofa carcasses during summer and winter seasons in southeastern Brazil. Rev. Bras. Entomol. 51: 394-396.
Gomes, L., Gomes, G. & Desuó, I.C. (2009). A preliminary study of insect fauna on pig carcasses located in sugarcane in winter in southeastern Brazil. Med. Vet. Entomol. 23: 155– 159. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2915.2009.00796.x.
Hölldobler, B. & Wilson, E.O. (1990). The ants. Harvard, Harvard University Press, 732 p.
Horenstein, M.B., Arnaldos, M.I., Rosso, B. & García, M.D. (2005). Estudio preliminar de la comunidad sarco-saprófaga em Córdoba (Argentina): aplicación a la entomología forense. An. Biol. 27: 191-201.
ICMBio. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade. (2014). Encarte 3. http://www.icmbio.gov.br/ portal/images/stories/imgs-unidadescoservacao/ 05ENCARTE3.pdf.
Luederwaldt, G. (1911). Os insectos necrophagos paulistas. Rev. Mus. Paulista 8: 414 – 433.
Monteiro-Filho, E.L.A. & Penereiro, J.L. (1987). Estudo de decomposição e sucessão sobre uma carcaça animal numa área do estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Rev. Bras. Biol. 47: 289-295.
Moretti, T.C. & Ribeiro, O.B. (2006). Cephalotes clypeatus Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): nesting habits and occurrence in animal carcass. Neotrop. Entomol. 35: 412-415.
Moretti, T.C., Solis, D. R. & Godoy, W.A.C. (2013). Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Collected with Carrion-Baited Traps in Southeast Brazil. Open Forensic Sci. J. 6: 1-5. doi: 10.2174/1874402801306010001
Moretti, T.C., Thyssen, P.J., Godoy, W.A.C. & Solis, D.R. (2007). Ants collected during forensic investigations in southeastern Brazil. Biológico 69: 465-467.
Moura, M.O., Carvalho, C.J.B. & Monteiro-Filho, E.L.A. (1997). A preliminary analysis of insects of medical-legal importance in Curitiba, state of Paraná. Mem. I. Oswaldo Cruz 92: 269-274. doi 10.1590/S0074-02761997000200023
Nuorteva, P. (1974). Age determination of blood stain in a decaying shirt by entomological means. Forensic Sci. 3: 89- 94. doi:10.1016/0300-9432(74)90012-0
Oliveira-Costa, J., Celino, T.B. & Santana, D.O. (2007). Himenópteros de interesse forense. In Oliveira-Costa, J. (Ed), Entomologia Forense: quando os insetos são vestígios (pp. 236-249). Campinas, Millennium.
Overal, W.L. (1986). Recrutamento e divisão de trabalho em colônias naturais da formiga Ectatomma quadridens (Fabr.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae). Bol. Mus. Paraense Emílio Goeldi 2: 113–135.
Patel, F. (1994). Artefact in forensic medicine: postmortem rodent activity. J. Forensic Sci. 39: 257–260.
Payne, J.A. (1965). A summer carrion study of the baby pig Sus scrofa Linnaeus. Ecology 46: 592–602. doi: 10.2307/1934999
Piva, A. & Campos-Farinha, A.E.C. (1999). Estrutura de comunidade das formigas urbanas do bairro da Vila Mariana na cidade de São Paulo. Naturalia 24: 115-117
Pujol-Luz, J.R., Marques, H., Uruhary-Rodrigues, A., Rafael, J.A.; Santana, F.H.A., Arantes, L.C. & Constantino, R. (2006). A forensic entomology case from the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. J. Forenisc Sci. 51: 1151-1153.
Santos, W.E., Carneiro, L.T., Alves, A.C.F., Creão-Duarte, A.J. & Martins, C.F. (2014). Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) attracted to animal carcasses in the brazilian dry forest and implications for Forensic Entomology. Sociobiology, 61: 490-493. doi: 10.13102/sociobiology.v61i4.490-493.
Silva, J.O.A., Carvalho-Filho, F.S. & Esposito, M.C. (2012). Califorídeos (Diptera) de interesse forense colonizadores de cadáveres de suínos (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758) em uma área de cerrado na Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) Municipal do Inhamum, Caxias, MA. In M.C. Barros (org). Biodiversidade na Área de Proteção Ambiental Municipal do Inhamum (pp. 43-58). São Luís, editora da UEMA.
Silvestre, R. & Silva, R.R. (2001). Guildas de formigas da Estação Ecológica Jataí, Luiz Antônio – SP. Sugestões para aplicação do modelo de guildas como bio-indicadores ambientais. Biotemas 14: 37-69.
Sousa, A.M & Linhares, A. X. (1997). Diptera and Coleoptera of potential forencic importance in southeastern Brazil: Relative abundance and seasonality. Med. Vet. Entomol. 11: 8–12. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2915.1997.tb00284.x
Stoker, R.L., Grant, W.E. & Vinson, S.B. (1995). Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) effect on invertebrate decomposers of carrion in central Texas. Environ. Entomol. 24: 817–822. doi: 10.1093/ee/24.4.817
Wells, J.D. & Greenberg, B. (1994). Effect of the red imported red importated fire ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and carcass type on the daily occurrence of post feeding carrion – fly larvae (Diptera: Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae). J. Med. Entomol. 31: 171 - 174. doi: 10.1093/jmedent/31.1.171
Wilson, E.O. (1976). Which are the most prevalent ant genera? Stud. Entomol. 19: 1-12.
Wilson, E.O. (2003). Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 794 p.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Sociobiology is a diamond open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
eISSN 2447-8067
