Ants as Carcasses Consumers a Case Study Undertaken Inside a Greenhouse (Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain)

We report the reduction of mice carcasses by a single species of ant Pheidole megacephala (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). The carcasses of drowned mice were placed inside a greenhouse and remained under observation until reduced to a skeleton. The access of external fauna into the greenhouse was limited and no fly or other necrophagous insect colonised the remains of the first animal, except ants invading the greenhouse through the floor and reducing the mouse to a skeleton after a few days, beginning through the head and trunk. The ants were identified as Pheidole megacephala, a pest that has been introduced to temperate countries through the trade in exotic plants. Once the soft tissues had been consumed, the ants transported the bones to the nest under the greenhouse structure eliminating any possible evidence of the corpse at the scene. When a barrier blocked the access of the ants to the carcass, blowflies colonised and developed successfully in the carcass; post feeding maggots were reared under laboratory conditions and emerged adults identified as Calliphora vicina and Lucilia sericata (Diptera, Calliphoridae). This is the first time that P. megacephala has been reported in association with carcass reduction.