Forensic entomology

Forensic Entomology Forensic Entomology is the study of insects and arthropods which help aid the legal system. This includes insects, arachnids, centipedes, millipedes, and crustaceans most commonly maggots are used. Forensic entomology can not only aid in murder investigations but it can also be used to detect abuse of children and the elderly, to determine the location of the crime scene if the body had been moved, termite damage or even bugs in food. History Forensic Entomology was first used in the 13th century in a Chinese village. During the middle ages the relation between maggots and adult flies laying eggs was not recognised, through the detailed illustration of bodies containing maggots was normal. During the 19th Century it was noted that flies were attracted to bodies during the early stages of decomposition. Forensic Entomology was first used in a courtroom in France in 1850, it was viewed as a breakthrough. It was also discovered there were both pros and cons in using insects to determine the PMI (Post Mortem Interval). Forensic Entomology was properly established in the 18th Century by Yovanovich and Megnin who evaluated the succession of insects on bodies. Forensic Entomology is split up into three main areas: Urban, Stored-Product and Medico-Legal. Urban Forensic Entomology Urban Forensic…

An Entomological Study to Determine the Time since Death in Cases of Decomposed Bodies is a brief and informative article written by Parmod Goyal. The article begins with an abstract, which first defines forensic entomology as “the application of knowledge of insects during the investigation of crimes or other legal matters.” Determining the time since death of a human is extremely important, but finding this specific time becomes more difficult as the body decomposes. Although in the early…

Define forensic entomology? Entomology is the highly diverse study of insects and is a subarea of anthropology. The forensic section of entomology deals with application of the the study of how insects relate to criminal matters. In most cases they deal with time of death determinations, location of death, and determining whether the body was moved or not. Bugs eat materials inside of and outside of the body throughout decomposition. A way to use them to determine how long someone has been…

Education In the CSI episode “Burked,” one of the featured analysts was a forensic entomologist. Forensic entomologists apply their knowledge of insects to a variety of investigative purposes, such as estimating the time since a person has died (Investigating Forensics). Forensic entomologists can also apply their knowledge to establish a connection between the victim and a suspect, or to determine the geographic location of the victim’s death. Other responsibilities of forensic entomologists…

Question: Does the odorous smell of Tapinoma Sessile, more commonly known as Blue Cheese Ants or odorous house ants, decrease the rate of predation from predators such as toads? In context: Tapinoma Sessile are common pests in our everyday environment. They vary in size from 2.4 to 3.2 mm and can take shelter both outdoors and indoors. They feed on sugary snacks like honeydew, a glucose-filled fluid produced by small arthropods like aphids. They also feed on dead insects and spiders. To most…

Insects are the reason our bodies actually decompose. They are drawn to the stench of cadaverine and putrescine once your body starts producing it. As stated before, when an individual dies, their body starts to decay about 4 minutes after their heart stops beating and their cells are deprived of oxygen. Insects, such as blowflies, seek out damp orifices to lay their eggs in. After the bloat stage of decomposition the body becomes open to its surroundings and insect activity tends to increase…

one of these key elements. Many factors can determine if the evidence submitted before a court of law is accurate such as how the evidence is collected, if proper protocell was followed before the laboratory’s handling of the evidence, and if the evidences was accurately processed by the crime scene laboratory by various forensic scientists. Furthermore, with the advances in technology in today’s society, various pieces of evidence such a DNA analysis have been considered a crucial element…

Conclusions Myskowiak and Doums’ (2003) finding that refrigeration of P. terraenovae can affect the development and biometry of larval specimens after only one day of refrigeration suggests that a common forensic practice could be introducing significant error in to PMI estimations. Furthermore, the different relationships between duration of refrigeration, the stage refrigerated, and the time to development indicate that only L3 larvae return to their standard development rate after…

An autopsy is done to gather evidence of a cadaver in an investigation to know the cause and time of death. The individual administering the autopsy is known as the pathologist who is a medical doctor that determines the time, cause, and means of a crime. The pathologist will determine if a weapon was used to kill the victim, whether the victim lived after the injury, evidence of a struggle self-defense or rape/sex related crimes. Algor mortis is one of the three mortises calculates the average…

Have you ever wondered what Forensic Science is all about or even wondered about the differences forensics has to offer? Well, let’s start with the word forensic. Forensic is defined by Black’s Law dictionary as “belonging to courts of justice”. Forensic Science is the application of scientific knowledge to legal problems. It is also the scientific method of gathering and examining information about the past, they are used in the court of law. Science of anatomy and problem solving. There are…