The Role of Diptera and Coleoptera (Arthropoda: Insecta) in Identifying Injuries and Estimating Postmortem Interval: A Case Report

Diptera and Coleoptera (Arthropoda: Insecta) are of great importance in forensic entomology for providing valuable information that contribute to investigations of the cause of death, cases of neglect and mistreatment or for estimating post-mortem interval (PMI), among others. Considering that the period of insect activity (PIA) reliably and accurately represents the PMI and the increasing use of entomological evidence in forensic cases, we report a case in which Hemilucilia segmentaria (Fabricius) (Diptera, Calliphoridae) was used as entomological evidence to estimate the PMI in a suspected death of a woman whose body was found in a wild environment in southeastern Brazil. Additionally, we report the breeding of Sarcophaga (Lyopygia) ruficornis (Fabricius) (Diptera, Sarcophagidae) in the corpse, highlighting the need of data development of this species for accurately estimation of PMI, and postmortem lesions caused by the previous fly species and by the carrion beetle Oxelytrum discicolle (Brullé) (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Silphinae), emphasizing the importance of the knowledge about the biology and behaviour of necrophagous species in order to avoid misinterpretation of evidences.