New Species and New Records of Dexosarcophaga Townsend (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) from Brazil with a Key to Species of the Subgenus Bezzisca

Succession of medico-legal important flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in the temporal gradient of pig decomposition in the Brazilian Cerrado

Flies belonging to the Sarcophagidae family play a significant role in forensic investigations by aiding in the estimation of post-mortem interval through the assessment of the developmental time of their immature stages and/or the succession patterns of species on carcasses and cadavers. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the ecological succession of these flies on pig carcasses within Cerrado of Brazil. The progression of fly succession was examined over a 10-day period using the Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis (TITAN) approach. Six Z + species (Oxysarcodexia thornax (Walker), Peckia (Sarcodexia) lambens (Wiedemann), Peckia (Euboettcheria) collusor (Curran & Walley), Ravinia belforti (Prado & Fonseca), Tricharaea (Sarcophagula) canuta (Wulp) and Tricharaea (Sarcophagula) occidua (Fabricius)) were identified, with change points ranging from 2.5 to 3 days during the dry season and 2.5 to 5.5 days during the rainy season. Two Z-  species (Dexosarcophaga carvalhoi (Lopes) and Peckia (Sarcodexia) tridentata (Hall)) were present, with a change point of 6.5 days during the rainy season. This study provides a continuous analysis of the temporal succession of flies, enabling an investigation into species progression based on their change points and directions (Z + and Z- ), thereby offering methodological advancements to avoid the arbitrary categorization of inherently continuous data.

Description of three new species of Dexosarcophaga (Diptera, Sarcophagidae) from Brazil with new information on synonyms and filling gaps in species distribution

Three new species of DexosarcophagaTownsend, 1917 are described based on male specimens collected in Brazil, Dexosarcophaga sinoisp. nov., Dexosarcophaga autisferasp. nov., and Dexosarcophaga clavissp. nov. Male morphology is represented by photographs and detailed illustrations of terminalia. Dexosarcophaga carvalhoi (Lopes, 1980), Dexosarcophaga globulosaLopes, 1946, Dexosarcophaga limitata (Lopes, 1975), Dexosarcophaga paulistana (Lopes, 1982b), and Dexosarcophaga petraSantos, Pape and Mello-Patiu 2022 are recorded for the first time in Argentina. Also, Dexosarcophaga lenkoiLopes, 1968, Dexosarcophaga montana (Lopes, 1975), and Dexosarcophaga transitaTownsend, 1917 have their distribution expanded with new records. Dexosarcophaga transita is considered a senior synonym of Dexosarcophaga chaetosaBlanchard, 1939syn. nov., Dexosarcophaga itaquaDodge, 1966syn. nov., and Dexosarcophaga lopesiDodge, 1968syn. nov. With the addition of the new species and the new synonymies proposed, Dexosarcophaga now contains 58 species, of which 10 are recorded in Argentina and 35 in Brazil.

Flesh Flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) of Forensic Importance Collected From Pig Carcasses in the Cerrado of Northeastern Brazil

Sarcophagidae is a family of true flies frequently found colonizing carcasses and corpses as adults and/or larvae, therefore, they are of great forensic value in the medico-legal field. Thus, this study aims to inventory the sarcophagids species and describe their succession process in the decomposition of swine carcasses in the Cerrado (savanna-like vegetation), Brazilian Northeastern region. A total of 10,819 specimens were collected, belonging to 45 sarcophagid species. Of this total, one species was recently described (Helicobia neuzalmeidae Silva, Brasil, De-Souza & Carvalho-Filho), two [Blaesoxipha (Acanthodotheca) denieri (Blanchard) and Dexosarcophaga pusilla Lopes] are new records for the Cerrado biome, five [Argoravinia (Argoravinia) catiae Carvalho Filho & Esposito, B. (A.) denieri, Nephochaetopteryx orbitalis (Curran & Walley), Peckia (Sarcodexia) tridentata (Hall) and Tricharaea (Sarcophagula) ramirezi (Lopes)] are new records for the Northeast region and eight are new records for the state of Maranhão. The species A. (A.) catiae, Blaesoxipha (Gigantotheca) stallengi (Lahille), D. pusilla, H. neuzalmeidae, Lipoptilocnema misella Lopes, Oxysarcodexia bakeri (Aldrich) and Retrocitomyia retrocita (Hall) were collected for the first time in pig carcasses. Peckia (Sarcodexia) lambens (Wiedemann) and Oxysarcodexia thornax (Walker) were the most abundant species. In both collection seasons, five species were carcasses pioneers at an early stage. The majority of species (42 spp.) were collected during the dry season, primarily during the black putrefaction (39 spp.) and butyric fermentation (30 spp.) stages. The greatest number specimens (n = 6,484) were recorded during the rainy season, at the butyric fermentation (n = 2,517) and black putrefaction (n = 2,080).

Description of Two New Species of Dexosarcophaga (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) From the Coastal Environments of the Brazilian Amazon

Two new species of Dexosarcophaga Townsend (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) are described, both from the coastal zone of the Brazilian Amazon: Dexosarcophaga salgada sp. nov. and Dexosarcophaga klycyae sp. nov.