Invertebrate Modification of Bone

Abstract

The interval between death and forensic analysis is a period in which several dynamic processes are at work, the understanding and recognition of which form the primary concern of taphonomists. Essential to interpreting forensic cases is a sound understanding of the decomposition process, and a familiarity with bone modification criteria used to identify different agents. A good deal of actualistic research has been conducted in the past 40 years on the effects of large mammals, birds, and abrasion on bone. However, relatively little attention has been paid to invertebrates as agents of bone modification, which is surprising given that insects are used by forensic scientists to reconstruct length of body exposure and a subsequent sequence of events (e.g., Anderson 2001, 2010; Byrd and Castner 2001; Byrd and Tomberlin 2001; Vanin and Huchet 2017). In the current state of knowledge, five insect Orders are reported agents of bone modification: Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (moths), Blattodea (termites), Diptera (fly larvae), and Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps). We summarize the damage reported for each, and add cockroaches to the Blattodea, and hide and tenebrionid beetles to the Coleoptera. We expand the list to include invertebrates in the Orders: Orthoptera (crickets), Spirostreptida (millipedes), Glomerida (pill millipedes), Isopoda (woodlice), and Gastropoda (snails).