InsectInvestigations.com
Title
Insect Investigations
Description
Forensic entomology is legal application of the science of entomology. Entomology is the study of insects, often including spiders and other arthropods. Forensics encompasses both civil and criminal areas of law.
Photographs: Bluebottle blow fly (top left) courtesy of John Mitchell (see Urban Entomology page), working in the lab (below), Silpha sp. carrion beetle (bottom left), Mediterranean flour moth (Anagasta kuehniella ), bottom right).
In certain cases of suspicious death,the length of time that insects have colonised remains is useful to police investigations in helping to determine time of death. It is the mandate of the Provincial Coroners Office to determine time of death but, through pathology, they are unable to scientifically estimate beyond a certain postmortem period. In such cases, insects may become evidence and assist in determining time of death. This is based on the length of time that certain insect species, often species of blow fly, have colonised the remains. Blow flies are the insects of primary significance because the time they begin to colonise remains is often approximately consistent with the time of death.
