The succession of appearance of beetles, and to a lesser extent of
flies and other insects, was studied on a dead fox and a dead roe
deer during their decay in De Kaaistoep, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
The fox, completely lying in the shade, was observed from February 2002 until April 2003, the roe deer, lying in the sun, from April
2002 until November 2002. The corpses were manipulated as little
as possible to avoid disturbance of the decomposition process.
The observations made on the dead fox and the dead roe deer in
situ are given in full in the first part of this article; a systematic
presentation of the results in the second part. A total of 86
species of beetles was collected from the cadavres in situ: 57 from
the fox and 61 from the roe deer. Philonthus spinipes detected in
the fox is new for the Dutch fauna. The growth of the larvae of
Oiceoptoma and Thanatophilus was followed in detail. Larvae are
present during about six to ten weeks, even larval stadium 1. The
differences between the decay and succession of beetles in the
two corpses are discussed.
Dermestidae found: Dermestes frischii, Dermestes maculatus, Dermestes murinus, Dermestes undulatus.