INTRODUCTION
Entomofauna in association with corpses has interest due to its application to Forensic Entomology. It is a discipline putting together Entomology and Legal Medicine in order to yield details related to dead bodies found in "odd cicumstances".
Bearing in mind that is usually known about Arthropods arriving first and laying eggs, it is possible to estimate PMI studying larva development which depends on climatic factors and location if not more than a generation have gone by.
So Arthropod evidences in its different stages can help us fix roughly its succession.
In order to achieve reliable data bases applicable to judicial investigations, it is very important to study corpse entomo fauna in habitats with similar weather conditions.
In this experiment 16 piglets were used (2 per test and environment), "in situ" killed and positioned in two sites (shaded and unshaded ones), in every seasson during 30 days, except for the winter trial lasting 120 days.
Tests were carried out from 1997 to 1999.
Piglets were put inside cages to protect them from large animals. Only Arthropods could access carcasses.
In the picture below, cage placed in the shaded area
During those days Arthropods were collected to be identifIed taxonomically, to know about their biology and their inter-intra specific relations. 271 different species were captured and classified.
In the picture below, Diptera larvae belonging to Calliphoridae Family.
Every day, at the same time, samples were collected and temperatura data were recorded from environment and inside piglets.
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