Increasing rates of unsolved homicides in Brazil prompt the need for applied entomological
data to be used as a complementary tool by criminal investigators. In that context,
we analyzed the occurrence of forensically important insect species (Order Diptera)
on 14 cadavers taken into the Institute of Legal Medicine (ILM), in Pernambuco, Brazil,
according to the conditions of the body and the pattern of colonisation by insects.
Simultaneously, we surveyed the diversity of insects in the surrounding environment
using bait traps. Five species were present on cadavers: Chrysomya albiceps, Chrysomya
megacephala and Cochliomyia macellaria (Calliphoridae), Oxysarcodexia riograndensis
and Ravinia belforti (Sarcophagidae). A total of 4689 adult insects belonging to 24
species of seven dipteran families (Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae, Fanniidae,
Phoridae, Anthomyiidae and Stratiomyidae) was collected at the ILM premises. C. albiceps
was the most frequent species on the corpses and the most abundant in the traps. Species
referred to as of forensic importance, such as Lucilia eximia, Chrysomya putoria,
Oxysarcodexia modesta and Ophyra chalcogaster were collected on traps, but not on
cadavers. There seems to be a limited colonisation of cadavers at the scene of the
death, despite the ubiquity of necrophagous species in the area. The results contribute
to differentiate between species that are involved in decomposition and those found
in and around the mortuary installations of the ILM, thus providing potential clues
about the locality of death and the post-mortem interval.