On carrion-associated beetles in the Sonian Forest (Belgium): observations on five deer carcasses

Carrion is an important element of temperate ecosystems, although far less studied than dead and decaying wood. In order to avoid competition, insects need to detect and colonize ephemeral resources like carrion quickly. The knowledge of this colonization is an important tool in forensic entomology. Hence, species identification is a most crucial factor. Among insects, most studies have concentrated on flies (Diptera), whereas beetles (Coleoptera) were neglected for a long time. Beetles, however, have forensic applications – they are part of the entomofaunal colonization of a carcass – and therefore recently more extensive research on forensic application of beetle data has been done. Beetle families with significance to forensic entomology are Silphidae, Staphylinidae, Histeridae, Trogidae, Dermestidae, Cleridae, Nitidulidae and Carabidae. This study documents the presence of beetles associated with decaying carcasses of deer in the Sonian Forest, Belgium. A total of 271 specimens of Coleoptera belonging to twenty-five species in six families was recorded. The number of species and specimens increased from the fresh stage to the bloated stage and active decay, to drop back down at the dry/remains stage. A discussion is given about some interesting collected species and families.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Pig husbandry and environmental conditions in northern Gaul during Antiquity and the early Middle Ages: the contribution of hypoplasia analysis

Ongoing archaeozoological analyses into the Roman -early medieval transition in the fertile area of the Middle Belgian and Dutch loess region have shown a diachronic shift in the importance of pigs. The present paper examines the linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) of pig teeth from five sites covering the early Roman, late Roman and early medieval periods. The results are confronted with palynological, archaeological and textual data regarding land use and forest cover in an attempt to explain the observed trends in species composition and to document possible changes in pig husbandry and the environment

Preliminary data on pupal development, lifespan and fertility of Cynomya mortuorum (L., 1761) in Belgium (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

The calliphorid Cynomya mortuorum (L., 1761) is a species of forensic interest, present mainly in the Palaearctic Region. Nearly nothing is known about its life history. We provide here the first data regarding pupal weight evolution during the pupal stage, female fertility and life expectancy of the species. At 22°C under a variable regime of temperatures, the egg-to-adult development time was an average of 18.05 ± 0.72 and 18.47 ± 0.67 days for females and males, respectively, in the control group. The pupal stage represented 56.7% of the total development. The development time from egg to adult and the duration of the pupal stage were significantly longer for males than for females. The measurement of pupal weight at the start of the pupal period revealed that female pupae were significantly lighter than male pupae by nearly 20%. This difference between the sexes was also observed for the dry weight of adults. An average decrease of 8.75% was observed throughout the first 8 days of the pupal stage, after which most adults started to emerge. The tested females produced an average of 176.13 ± 66.62 eggs throughout the egg-laying period. The average lifespan after emergence was 12.10 ± 4.09 days for females and 12.60 ± 2.95 days for males, with a median of 12.50 days for both sexes