Forensic entomology for the investigator

Abstract

Forensic entomology is a discipline deeply rooted in history that is still evolving with regards to its utility in both the modern scientific community and medicolegal death investigations. While there are many applications of forensic entomology with the forensic sciences, the most common application is that of the estimation of time since death, also often known as a minimum postmortem interval, which in some instances can be equal to the time of colonization. This time estimation is based on the period of insect activity on a body, and the age of the insects collected from the remains can aid in determining a portion of the postmortem interval. For this estimation, temperature is a key element of entomological evidence collection, along with the insects themselves. Proper documentation of the scene conditions in which the body is discovered is essential for use in an entomological postmortem interval estimation. Likewise, proper documentation and collection of the insects from the body and the death scene—including a representative sample of all areas of colonization and species present—better allows the entomologist to provide a more accurate and useful estimation of time since death. This article is categorized under: Forensic Biology > Interpretation of Biological Evidence Forensic Anthropology > Time Since Death Estimation Forensic Science in Action/Crime Scene Investigation > Crime Scene Examination

Forensic entomology research in Egypt: a review article

“…According to Tarone and Benoit (2019), the location temperature data is critical for complete entomological investigation since insects have temperature-dependent life cycles. Still, temperature is the extremely considerable piece of data applied to PMI estimation based on the growth rates of insects, as per Byrd and Sutton (2020).…”

“…By examining the development and/or succession patterns (SPs) of insects found on human remains, forensic entomologists can estimate the PMI (Goff, 1993). Many factors were found to impact on the SPs such as season, location, and microclimate (Lord & Rodriguez, 1989;Byrd & Sutton, 2020). Another application of FE is the detection of chemicals in decaying tissues (Nuorteva and Nuorteva, 1982).…”

A review of the Forensic Entomology literature in the south‐eastern United States

“…Recently there has been a renewed interest in the application of forensic entomology methods in cases involving wildlife and animal crime. This application requires research on developmental differences on host species, and species‐specific conditions such as fur length and color, hide thickness, and decomposition rates (Brundage & Byrd, 2016; Byrd & Sutton, 2019; Peters, 2003). With increases in forensic entomology casework throughout Florida, there has been a corresponding increase in forensic anthropology casework, with some laboratories utilizing Dermestidae for casework in a university setting for both human and animal processing (Pham, Dery, Walsh‐Haney, Byrd, & Bartoszek, 2019).…”

Comparative Study on Forensic Insects encountered on Rabbit Corpses killed with different methods in Upper Egypt

“…Forensic entomology is the science interested with studying insects and other arthropods associated with cadavers which uses the data about their development or succession pattern to estimate the post mortem interval and hence, assistance in solving criminal cases (Aly et al, 2017;Kenawy and Abdel-Hamid, 2019;Byrd andSutton, 2020 andEl-Samad et al, 2020). It is divided into three components: urban, stored products and medico-legal (criminal) forensic entomology (Tuccia et al, 2018 andEl-Samad et al, 2021).…”