FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGY

207

Foraging of Polybia scutellaris (White

1984), in carcasses of Rattus norvegicus
(Berkenhout 1769)

*Anita Da Silva Herdina1 ;Gabriela S.S. Bitencourt1 ; Rocco Alfredo Di Mare1 ;

Bruno Correa Barbosa2 . Email: anitabioufsm@gmail.com
1 Depart.

de Ecologia e Evolucao, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria;

de Ecologia Comportamental e Bioac
ustica, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora
2 Laborat
orio

The despite the recent growth of forensic entomology in the country, there
are few studies on the foraging social wasps in animal carcasses. Thus, the
aim of this study was to report the fly predation in Rattus norvegicus carcasses by social wasp Polybia scutellaris. This wasp have a generalist and
opportunistic foraging, which comprising carbohydrates and proteins. P.
scutellaris can obtain these substances through predation of the Diptera
family Tabanidae ,Syrphidae , Muscidae and Anthomyiidae. The observations were made in August 2014 in the municipality of Itaara, Rio Grande
do Sul (29 3656.1S; 53 4827.6 W). For that, were used Shannon traps
with carcasses of Rattusnorvegicus. Polybia scutellaris attacked only flies of
Sarcophagidaes family during the winter in traps placed in forest area. P.
scutellaris presented four stages during the foraging of Diptera: I capture
of the prey using jaws; II- decapitation of the prey; III removal the preys
wings and IV-removaland transport of the preys abdomen to the colony.In
this research, the foragings pattern is similar to the behavior of other species
of social wasps previously studied: Polybia ignobilis. In this article, social
wasps behave as opportunistic predators. They forage the prey trapped in
traps, whichare attracted by carcasses of animals.In this study, we realize
the importance of understanding the issues ecological of the social wasps
in the community of necrophagous, since the presence the wasps foraging
insects with forensic importance, mainly, Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae,
could influence the amount and diversity of these families species and, as a
result, underestimate the postmortem interval.
Keywords Wasps, entomology forensic, fly

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