Entomology

Introduction
o Entomology is the study of insects
o Forensic entomology is the study of
the insects associated with a dead
body
o Also known as medicolegal
o Forensic entomologists are called into
homicide investigations when time of
death is unknown and their evidence is
usually presented in court as expert
testimony
 Introduction
o Insects begin colonizing at a dead
body immediately after death
o Dependent on season and environment
o Rate of development of the species
can be used to estimate time since
death
o Can give an estimate up to a year
 Introduction
o Entomological evidence is the most
accurate and frequently the only
method available to determine the
elapsed time since death
o Due to rigor, algor, and livor mortis
being useless after 72 hours
 Introduction
o Insects are also used to
o Determine whether the body has been
moved after death
o Determine whether it has been
disturbed
o Determine the presence or position of
wound sites
o Determine whether the victim used
drugs or was poisoned
o Determine the length of time of neglect
or abuse in living victims
Importance of Determining Time Since Death

o Important for the family of the

deceased
o Understanding how, when, and why a
person has died can help to give closure
to family and friends and allow them to
move on with their lives
Importance of Determining Time Since Death

o Timing of death may also have legal

implications
o Insurance policies
o Whether death occurred before or after
insurance coverage began
o Important for families when money is
involved
Importance of Determining Time Since Death

o May indicate the length of time that a

fraud has occurred
o Receiving monies for family members
while family members are deceased
 History of Entomology
o Is one of the oldest forensic sciences used
in death investigations
o First recorded use was in 13th century
China
o Modern use of entomology in criminal
investigations began in France in the mid
1800s
o First reported use of forensic entomology
in North America was in Quebec in 1897
o Did not become common until 1970s
 History of Entomology
o American Board of Entomology was
established in 1996 by Dr. Paul Catts
and Dr. Lee Goff
o European Association of Forensic
Entomology was established in 2001
 Training
o Must have extensive training in
entomology
o Bachelors degree in biology, zoology, or
entomology
o Masters in entomology
o PhD in forensic entomology, insect ecology,
and taxonomy
o Board certification requires 5 years of
experience after PhD

o Most forensic entomologists are university

professors
 Employment
o Forensic entomologists do not work
full time for crime labs
o Primary employment is in research and
teaching
o Therefore, most have little or NO
experience with crime scenes, legal
report writings, or court testimonies
 Decomposition
o Begins at the moment of death,
caused by two factors
o Autolysis
o The breaking down of tissues by the body's
own internal chemicals and enzymes
o Putrefaction
o The breakdown of tissues by bacteria
o These processes release gases that are the
chief source of the characteristic odor of
dead bodies
o These gases swell the body
 Decomposition
o Scavengers play an important role in
decomposition
o Insects and other animals are typically the next
agent of decomposition, if the body is accessible to
them
o The most important insects that are typically
involved in the process include the fleshflies
(Sarcophagidae) and blowflies (Calliphoridae)
o The green-bottle fly seen in the summer is a blowfly
o Larger scavengers, including coyotes, dogs,
wolves, foxes, rats, and mice may eat a body if it is
accessible to them
o Some of these animals also remove and scatter bones.
Factors Involved in Decomposition
o In a roughly descending degree of importance,
those factors include:
o Temperature
o The availability of oxygen
o Prior embalming
o Cause of death
o Access by insects
o Burial, and depth of burial
o Access by scavengers
o Trauma, including wounds and crushing blows
o Humidity, or dryness
o Rainfall
o Body size and weight
o Clothing
o The surface on which the body rests
Determination of Elapsed Time Since Death

o First method based on the

predictable development of larval
Diptera, known as the blow fly
o Used from the first time the first egg is
laid on the remains until the first adult
flies emerge from the pupal cases and
leave the body
o Evidence valuable from a few hours to
several weeks after death
Determination of Elapsed Time Since Death

o Second method is based on the

predictable, successional colonization
of the body by a sequence of carrion
insects
o Can be used from a few weeks after
death until nothing but dry bones
remain
 Blow Flies
o Blow flies are the first flies to be
attracted to a body
o They are large, metallic flies seen
near food or garbage cans in summer
o Blow flies belong to the family
Calliphoridae, in the order Diptera
or “true flies”
 Blow Flies
o Male and female blow flies require a
protein meal before the ovaries and
testes develop and oogenesis and
spermatogenesis can occur
o Adult feeding may occur at the dead
body
o Majority of the flies attracted to
remains are females searching for egg
laying sites
 Blow Flies
o Blow flies develop from eggs through
the first, second, and third instar
stages, and then the pupal stage
before becoming adults
o Stages influenced by species of blow
flies and temperature of
surroundings
 Blow Flies
o Insects are cold-blooded so their
development is temperature
dependent
o As temperature increases, they develop
more rapidly
o As temperature decreases, they develop
more slowly
 Blow Flies
o Analysis of the oldest insect stage on
they body, together with knowledge
of the meteorological conditions at
the scene, can be used to determine
how long insects have been feeding
on the body, and hence, how long the
victim has been dead
 First Instar Stage
o Once blow fly eggs have been laid, they
will hatch into first instar larvae
o Larvae rely on protein for their meals
o Females lay eggs on open wounds of dead
individuals or around orifices of a living
individual
o Face is colonized before other areas because
the skin is easier to penetrate
o Except in the case of rape cases, flies attracted to
genetalia
 Second Instar Stage
o First instar larvae shed larval cuticle
and mouthparts when entering
second instar stage
o Is more capable of penetrating the skin
than the first instar larvae
o Does so with proteolytic enzymes
 Third Instar Stage
o Third instar stage begins with second
instar larvae shedding its cuticle
o Are called maggots
o Maggots aggregate together in large
masses
o Can remove a large amount of tissue in a
very short amount of time
o After feeding, the maggots move on to a
site where they can pupate
o Remove outer cuticle so they can emerge as a
fly
 Time Span
o Female lays 2,000 eggs in her lifetime
o Once eggs are laid, they hatch
between 12 and 48 hours
o It takes 14 days for the fly to emerge
from the pupal case
Factors Used to Determine Time Since Death
o 4 factors must be taken into account
o Oldest stage of blow fly associated with the
body
o Look at old pupal cases
o Species of insects
o Each species develop at different rates so each
species of insects at the scene need to be collected
o Temperature data
o Must be able to determine temperature of crime
scene for a period of time
o Developmental data
o Must know how fast or how slow the specific species
develop
Determining Whether the Body has been Moved

o Insects present on the deceased body

that are not prevalent to the crime
scene can indicate that the victim was
murdered elsewhere and was
dumped at another location
Presence and Position of Wounds
o Insects are attracted first and
foremost to wounds so the first instar
larvae will have access to liquid
protein for nutrition
o Wound sites in individuals that have
completely decomposed are shown by
irregular or atypical insect
colonization
Linking Suspect to Scene
o Sometimes, criminals carry
entomological evidence on them
unknowingly
o This evidence can place them at the
crime scene by examining the life
cycles of the insects
 Drugs
o Insects that feed on the body of
individuals that have been poisoned
can be examined to determine what
type of drug or toxin the person was
poisoned with
o It is important to note that specific
drugs either speed up or slow down
larval development
o Can influence entomologist’s final report
Collection of Entomological Evidence
o Evidence should be collected by an
entomologist
o If not available, a police death
investigator should collect the evidence
o Different stages of larval growth
should be collected and bagged
separately
o Sample of soil should also be
collected from just outside the area
marked by body fluids
Challenges to Forensic Entomology
o 3 challenges exist
o Temperature
o Temperature of crime scene and the
temperature that the insects have been
exposed to us unknown
o Season
o Entomology is valuable only in spring,
summer, and fall
o Exclusion of insects
o Insects are excluded based on condition of
body