Modern bone modification by <i>dermestes maculatus</i> and criteria for the recognition of dermestid traces in the fossil record

Abstract

Various insect taxa are known to modify bone with their mandibles, including members of the orders Dermestidae, Tenebrionidae, Calliphoridae, Tineidae and Termitidae. Dermestidae are one of the most frequently inferred causal agent of bone surface modifications but little neoichnological/actualistic data exists to support such inferences. The primary aims of this investigation were to determine the nature of bone damage caused by the cosmopolitan species Dermestes maculatus and develop an interpretative framework to aid in the identification on modern and fossil and differentiation of associated bone. Four experiments were conducted utilising 79 bones exposed to D. maculatus for a period of 4 months. Five primary modification types were established for D. maculatus including furrows, destruction of bone, boreholes, striae, and three classes of pits. This study has vindicated D. maculatus as a causal agent of reported instances of bone surface modifications in existing archaeological and palaeontological literature, and more focussed studies may find greater application within the forensic sciences.

Topics & Concepts