First records of Synthesiomyia nudiseta (Diptera: Muscidae) from forensic cases in Italy

- Globalisation & global warming affect the distribution of forensic important flies.
- Synthesiomyia nudiseta is reported for the first time from dead bodies in Italy.
- Molecular data suggest an Asiatic origin of the specimens.
- All the Italian records concern port city (Genoa, Naples).
- Trade is suggested being the cause of this species distribution change.

The knowledge of the fauna associated with carrions and cadavers for a specific region plays a fundamental role in the estimation of the time since death in forensic cases. In the last years global warming and globalization have affected the insect species distribution. This phenomenon is affecting also the species of forensic interest associated with the cadaver decomposition. The species distribution shift, in the forensic context, has been mainly observed in Diptera of different family: Calliphoridae, Stratiomyidae and Phoridae. In the last decade the presence of the carrion feeding species, Synthesiomyia nudiseta (Diptera: Muscidae), was reported from forensic cases in Spain and in the last year from Italy where the species was collected from 5 bodies in different decomposition stages in the Genoa district. All the records concern indoor cases with the presence of other species belonging to the first colonization waves (e.g. Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae).Different hypothesis about the presence of the species in Italy can be suggested, but the molecular analysis and the importation records support the introduction trough commercial exchanges with Asian countries instead of a variation in the species distribution area from the Iberian Peninsula.