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Revolution in death sciences: body farms and taphonomics blooming. A review investigating the advantages, ethical and legal aspects in a Swiss context
AbstractTaphonomy is the study of decaying organisms over time and their process of fossilization. Taphonomy, originally a branch of palaeontology and anthropology, was developed to understand the ecology of a decomposition site, how site ecology changes upon the introduction of plant or animal remains and, in turn, how site ecology affects the decomposition of these materials. In recent years, these goals were incorporated by forensic science to understand the decomposition of human cadavers, to provide a basis on which to estimate postmortem and/or postburial interval, to assist in the determination of cause and circumst...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - May 20, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Development and validation of forensically useful growth models for Central European population of Creophilus maxillosus L. (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)
AbstractThe hairy rove beetle,Creophilus maxillosus (Linnaeus) (Staphylinidae), is recognized for its use in forensic entomology. However, insufficient developmental data exist for the Central European population of this species. Accordingly, we studied the development ofC. maxillosus at ten constant temperatures (10 –32.5 °C). Based on these results, linear and nonlinear developmental models were created and validated. We also studied the effect of different homogenous diets (third-instar larvae or puparia ofCalliphora sp. Robineau-Desvoidy orLucilia sp. Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera: Calliphoridae) or mix of first- and ...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - April 7, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

A field study to evaluate PMI estimation methods for advanced decomposition stages
AbstractEstimating 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most acute in the late PMI, when decomposition proceeds and some methods (such as rigor, livor, and algor mortis) are no longer applicable.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...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - April 4, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

How should living entomological samples be stored?
AbstractSampling and storing insect evidence alive are important tasks in forensic entomology as it can impact survival and growth rates. To investigate the effect of cooling and storing of insect evidence before its arrival in the laboratory, samples of all three larval stages of the blow fly speciesLucilia sericata andCalliphora vicina were analyzed. A first group was stored at room temperature and a second one in a refrigerator (~  5 °C) for 16 h, all without air, supply of food, and sawdust. Afterwards, they were kept at 6–8 °C in a Styrofoam box for 8 h, simulating a transport situation. Mortality rate (MR) ...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - October 24, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Description of immature stages of Thanatophilus sinuatus (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
AbstractNecrophagous beetles of genusThanatophilus are well recognized as a group of beetles with a high potential utility in forensic entomology. They can be used to estimate postmortem interval (PMI) or validate the value for other groups of insects commonly encountered on human remains, like blowflies (Calliphoridae). However, reliable tools for instar and species identification of their larvae are needed as such information is crucial for allowing accurate PMI estimate. One of the most common species of the genusThanatophilus in Europe isThanatophilus sinuatus. This species occurs frequently on human remains and its la...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - March 15, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Environmental factors influencing flight activity of forensically important female blow flies in Central Europe
AbstractIn forensic entomology, evaluation of a possible delay between a person ’s death and insect colonization is crucial. We monitored the seasonal flight activities of the most abundant blow flies in an urban habitat in Frankfurt/Germany based on 152 sampling days between April and October 2017. Thirty-six thousand female specimens of 12 necrophagous taxa were sampled as a possible groundwork for establishing a prediction tool for the activity of certain forensically relevant taxa. The most abundant taxon wasLucilia sericata (n = 19,544), followed byLucilia caesar (n = 8025),Calliphora vicina (n = 5224), ...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - November 27, 2018 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Temperature: the weak point of forensic entomology
This article proposes tools for determining the adequacy of weather station temperature datasets versus the local temperature experienced by carrion breeders. The idea is to start from a local scale (i.e., the cadaver) and gradually move to larger scales: at each step, the temperature can be increased, decreased or smoothed by environmental or biological factors. While a one-size-fits-all solution is not feasible for a complex and sensitive issue such as forensic meteorology, this checklist increases the reliability of minimum post-mortem interval (PMImin) estimation and the traceability of the proposed assumption.
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - July 24, 2018 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

The analysis of pupal development period in Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) forensically important insect
In this study, the pupal period ofLucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826), which is one of the species used in PMImin estimation in forensic entomology, was investigated. Studies about the pupal period of development are considerably limited in the forensic entomology world. Stages and duration of the pupal period ofLucilia sericata were studied at temperatures of 20  °C, 25 °C, and 30 °C. For all temperatures, pupae specimens were dissected and photographed hourly. According to findings based on all three temperatures, it was determined that as the temperature increases, the duration of development shortens. Also, in additi...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - June 14, 2018 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Revisited larval morphology of Thanatophilus rugosus (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
AbstractDetermination of insect species and their instars, occurring on human remains, is important information that allows us to use insects for estimation of postmortem interval and detect possible manipulation with the body. However, larvae of many common species can be identified only by molecular methods, which is not always possible. The instar determination is even more challenging, and qualitative characters that would allow a more precise identification are mostly unknown.Thanatophilus rugosus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a common necrophagous beetle in the whole Palaearctic region from Europe to Japan. The species is ofte...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - December 21, 2017 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Same, same but different! —matching entomological traces to a human food source by stable isotope analysis
AbstractBlow flies are important tools in forensic entomology, as they feed and develop on human bodies. This fact can be used to estimate the minimum post mortem interval (PMImin), by classifying the age of the immature stages found on corpses. The capacity to also be able to classify the age of adult flies, or even empty puparia, could increase the timeframe for a PMImin. However, the association of older developmental stages, such as adult flies or their empty cases, with a human cadaver may be challenged, as such specimens could stem from another food source. Analyzing the stable carbon ( δ13C) and nitrogen ( δ15N) i...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - November 30, 2017 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Muscidae (Diptera) of forensic importance —an identification key to third instar larvae of the western Palaearctic region and a catalogue of the muscid carrion community
AbstractThe Muscidae is one of the main dipteran families recognized as important for medico-legal purposes. Although an association of adult flies with decomposing human and animal bodies is documented for about 200 taxa worldwide, cadavers and carrion represents a breeding habitat for considerably fewer species. Species that do colonize dead human bodies can do so under diverse environmental conditions and, under certain circumstances, Muscidae may be the only colonizers of a body. Because of difficulties in identification, many studies have identified immature and/or adult muscids only to the genus or family level. This...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - December 6, 2016 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Temperature-dependent development and the significance for estimating postmortem interval of Chrysomya nigripes Aubertin, a new forensically important species in China
In this study, the larvae of C. nigripes were collected from pig carcasses that were placed in the field. The colonies were cultured at constant temperatures of 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 (±1) °C. The biological features of C. nigripes, the developmental pattern, and the body length with time at different temperatures were studied. The results showed that the average developmental duration of the C. nigripes larvae at 20, 24, 28, and 32 (±1) °C were 608.0 ± 68.0 h, 327.0 ± 53.8 h, 254.0 ± 36.5 h, and 217.0 ± 28.0 h, respectively. There were two phases of body length increment with developmental time...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - February 12, 2016 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

The distribution of blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larval lengths and its implications for estimating post mortem intervals
Abstract The length or stage of development of blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae may be used to estimate a minimum postmortem interval, often by targeting the largest individuals of a species in the belief that they will be the oldest. However, natural variation in rate of development, and therefore length, implies that the size of the largest larva, as well as the number of larvae longer than any stated length, will be greater for larger cohorts. Length data from the blow flies Protophormia terraenovae and Lucilia sericata were collected from one field-based and two laboratory-based experiments. The field ...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - November 16, 2015 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

The biology and ecology of Necrodes littoralis , a species of forensic interest in Europe
This study describes, for the first time, the involvement of N. littoralis on human corpses based on a large dataset of 154 French forensic cases. Various parameters regarding corpse location, decomposition stages, and entomofauna were extracted from each file. Compared to all of the forensic entomology cases analyzed between 1990 and 2013 (1028), N. littoralis was observed, on average, in one case out of eight; most of these cases occurred during spring and summer (73.5 %). More than 90 % of the cases were located outdoors, especially in woodlands, bushes, and fields. The decomposition stage of the corpse varied among c...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - September 1, 2015 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

Diapause-specific gene expression in Calliphora vicina (Diptera: Calliphoridae)—a useful diagnostic tool for forensic entomology
Abstract Estimating the post mortem interval (PMImin) by age determination of blow fly larvae has been well-established for moderate temperatures. Low-temperature developmental data is only available sparsely and usually does not take overwintering strategies into account. The blow fly Calliphora vicina hibernates by diapausing in the third larval stage extending the duration of this developmental stage up to several weeks or even months. As the diagnosis of the diapause status is not possible by morphological characteristics, PMImin estimations might be biased during the cold season if only based on age determin...
Source: International Journal of Legal Medicine - October 13, 2014 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research

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