Description of the puparium and other notes on the morphological and molecular identification of Phthitia empirica (Diptera, Sphaeroceridae) collected from animal carcasses

Background: A correct identification of species is fundamental in order to derive all the biological, ecological, and behavioral information useful to reconstruct previous events when insects are used in forensic and funerary archaeological contexts. Little attention was paid in the past to the description of the immature stages of flies, especially of species belonging to family found only occasionally on human cadavers and animal carrion. Sphaeroceridae species belong to this category. Results: In this work, adult and puparia of Phthitia empirica (Hutton, 1901) are illustrated and described. In addition, some observations about the molecular identification of this species are presented and discussed. Conclusions: This work will allow the identification of puparia of this species providing additional tools in forensic entomological investigation. More in general, the effort of producing morphological descriptions and molecular information of species of potential forensic interest clearly implements the possibility to provide a deeper understanding of the peri- and post-mortem events in violent crimes.