Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera.

This manual is an excellent blending of scientific techniques and knowledge with criminal investigation backgrounds. It works at maintaining the skills and precision needed by the entomologist to translate rather gruesome scenes into worthwhile courtroom information, plus tweaking one's conscience with ethical and objective standards.

A Review of Entomology and Death: A Procedural Guide

Encyclopedia of Entomology Volume 1 (A-C)Encyclopedia of Medical and Veterinary Entomology (electronic Resource).InsectsEncyclopedia of EntomologyDictionary of EntomologyEncyclopedia of Pest ManagementThe Encyclopedia of Medical and Veterinary EntomologyTexas Bug BookDictionary of EntomologyEncyclopedia of InsectsEncyclopedia of Entomology Volume 2 (DK)Illinois Insects and SpidersInsect EcologyEncyclopedia of Entomology Volume 4 (SZ)Encyclopedia of InsectsMedical and Veterinary EntomologyMedical Entomology for StudentsEncyclopedia of Entomology Volume 3 (L-R)Encyclopedia of EntomologyEncyclopedia of EntomologyEncyclopedia of Entomology: P-ZThe Bug GirlEncyclopedia of EntomologyAn Inordinate Fondness for BeetlesEncyclopedia of EntomologyThat Gunk on Your CarInsects of South-Eastern AustraliaInsects & Bugs for KidsKaufman Field Guide to Insects of North AmericaThe InsectsBasic and Applied Entomology an EncyclopediaThe AntsEncyclopedia of Forensic SciencesPests and Their ManagementEncyclopedia of EntomologyEncyclopedia of IslandsCerambycidae of the WorldEncyclopedia of Social InsectsA Survey of EntomologyEncyclopedia of Entomology

Encyclopedia of Entomology

Microbiome Tools for Forensic Science.

Estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the major tasks and a continuous challenge in forensic pathology. It is often an exclusion process of available methods, which ultimately can lead to an unsatisfactory outcome due to poor reliability. This problem is most acute in the late PMI, when decomposition proceeds and some methods (such as rigor, livor, and algor mortis) are no longer applicable. Several methods, such as forensic entomology, skeletal muscle protein degradation, and the study of body decomposition by application of a morphological scoring, are expected to provide further information; however, all have certain limitations and weaknesses. Availability of a tool-box of methods allows a case-specific selection of the most appropriate one(s), or eventually provides improvements in the overall accuracy and precision of the PMI estimation by merging and combining methods. To investigate practical (field) application, eventual interferences, and/or synergetic effects, as well as the robustness of these methods towards specific influencing factors, a field study was conducted, using eight pig cadavers of different body weights and physical coverage, left to decompose under natural conditions for 16 days. Morphological changes during decomposition were assessed using the total body score (TBS), muscle samples were collected to analyze protein degradation, and insect colonization was evaluated. The results reveal strengths and current limitations of all tested methods, as well as promising synergistic effects, and thus, provide a baseline for targeted future research.

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A field study to evaluate PMI estimation methods for advanced decomposition stages.

The pre-appearance interval (PAI) is an interval preceding appearance of an insect taxon on a cadaver. It decreases with an increase in temperature in several forensically-relevant insects. Therefore, forensic entomologists developed temperature methods for the estimation of PAI. In the current study these methods were tested in the case of adult and larval Necrodes littoralis (Coleoptera: Silphidae), adult and larval Creophilus maxillosus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), adult Necrobia rufipes (Coleoptera: Cleridae), adult Saprinus semistriatus (Coleoptera: Histeridae) and adult Stearibia nigriceps (Diptera: Piophilidae). Moreover, factors affecting accuracy of estimation and techniques for the approximation and correction of predictor temperature were studied using results of a multi-year pig carcass study. It was demonstrated that temperature methods outperform conventional methods. The accuracy of estimation was strongly related to the quality of the temperature model for PAI and the quality of temperature data used for the estimation. Models for larval stage performed better than models for adult stage. Mean temperature for the average seasonal PAI was a good initial approximation of predictor temperature. Moreover, iterative estimation of PAI was found to effectively correct predictor temperature, although some pitfalls were identified in this respect. Implications for the estimation of PAI are discussed.

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Validation of temperature methods for the estimation of pre-appearance interval in carrion insects.

Post-mortem interval estimation based on insect evidence in a quasi-indoor habitat

Patterns and mechanisms for larval aggregation in carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

The estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) based on successional patterns of adult insects is largely limited, due to the lack of potential PMI markers. Sex and size of adult insects could be easily used for such estimation. In this study, sex- and size-related patterns of carrion attendance by adult insects were analyzed in Necrodes littoralis (Coleoptera: Silphidae) and Creophilus maxillosus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). For both species, abundance of males and females changed similarly during decomposition. A slightly female-biased sex ratio was recorded in N. littoralis. Females of N. littoralis started visiting carcasses, on average, one day earlier than males. There was a rise in size of males of N. littoralis at the end of decomposition, whereas for females of both species and males of C. maxillosus, no size-related patterns of carrion visitation were found. Current results demonstrate that size and sex of adult carrion beetles are poor indicators of PMI.

Sex- and Size-Related Patterns of Carrion Visitation in Necrodes littoralis (Coleoptera: Silphidae) and Creophilus maxillosus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae).

Despite widely accepted standards for sampling and preservation of insect evidence, unrepresentative samples or improperly preserved evidence are encountered frequently in forensic investigations. Here, we report the results of laboratory studies on the survival of Lucilia sericata and Calliphora vomitoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae) intra-puparial forms in hermetic containers, which were stimulated by a recent case. It is demonstrated that the survival of blowfly intra-puparial forms inside airtight containers is dependent on container volume, number of puparia inside, and their age. The survival in both species was found to increase with an increase in the volume of air per 1 mg of puparium per day of development in a hermetic container. Below 0.05 ml of air, no insect survived, and above 0.2 ml of air per 1 mg of puparium per day, survival reached its maximum. These results suggest that blowflies reveal a single, general pattern of survival under decreasing oxygen conditions and that this pattern is a product of number of developing insects, their age and the initial amount of available air. Implications for forensic entomology are discussed.

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Anna Mądra-Bielewicz

Papers

Validation of temperature methods for the estimation of pre-appearance interval in carrion insects.

Post-mortem interval estimation based on insect evidence in a quasi-indoor habitat

Patterns and mechanisms for larval aggregation in carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Sex- and Size-Related Patterns of Carrion Visitation in Necrodes littoralis (Coleoptera: Silphidae) and Creophilus maxillosus (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae).

Blowfly puparia in a hermetic container: survival under decreasing oxygen conditions.