<i>Dermestes</i> (<i>s.str.</i>) <i>haemorrhoidalis</i> (Coleoptera: Dermestidae)—The Most Frequent Species on Mummified Human Corpses in Indoor Conditions? Three Cases from Southwestern Poland

Abstract

Beetles of the family Dermestidae, especially of the genus Dermestes Linnaeus, 1758, are often identified on corpses in late stages of decomposition. They usually feed on remains devoid of organs and soft tissues or when the corpses undergo mummification. In Europe, eight species from two subgenera Dermestes and Dermestinus Zhantiev, 1967, have so far been identified on human corpses. Despite the relatively frequent presence of Dermestes sp. in experimental studies conducted in Poland, no reports concerning Dermestes directly collected from human corpses have been published to date. This article again describes observations of Dermestidae collected from human corpses found in indoor conditions in Wrocław, the capital of the Dolnośląskie Voivodeship. For the second time, there is evidence of the presence of Dermestes (s.str.) haemorrhoidalis on human corpses—a species considered to be relatively rare, as evidenced by faunistic data published from Poland, as well as the results of ongoing experiments of forensic interest.

Keywords

• <i>Dermestes</i>
• forensic entomology
• indoor
• larder beetles
• mummification