Occurrence of Hymenoptera on Sus scrofa carcasses during summer and winter seasons in southeastern Brazil

Considerable importance has been given to nest construction and larval food transport to the nest as a precondition for the eusociality of insects. Most adult hymenopterans feed on liquids, although bees and a few wasps may also feed on pollen. Carrion represents an additional source of protein for some species and they will scavenge for dead animals in the wild. This paper aims at analyzing Hymenoptera visitors on a pig carcass during the process of decomposition, in the summer of 2005 and the winter of 2006 in Brazil, and comparing the results with other studies in the Neotropical region. To our knowledge, this is the first study which described the occurence of Agelaia pallipes, Polybia paulista and Scaptotrigona depilis on decomposing carcasses in southeastern Brazil. It also raises the hypothesis of possible applications of Hymenoptera to achieve more precise PMI estimations, apart from other insects already known as having great importance in such estimates.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Gomes,Leonardo, Gomes,Guilherme, Oliveira,Helena Gutierrez, Morlin Junior,José Jordan, Desuo,Ivan Cesar, Queiroz,Margareth M. Carvalho, Giannotti,Edilberto, Von Zuben,Cláudio José
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Sociedade Brasileira De Entomologia 2007
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0085-56262007000300019
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