Lecture 30 Flashcards
forensic entomology
any ex where evidence of an entomological nature is presented in a case of law
describe the moth riddled carpet case
A woman was suing a company b/c she believed that the carpet she bought from them had clothes moths
Carpet couldn’t possibly serve as a food source for the moths due to the textile content
Woman’s sister brought back wool tapestry from Mexico that had the clothes moths
describe the case with imported cannabis
Bales of cannabis seized in Auckland, New Zealand
3 suspects arrested
Needed the proof of importation to support charges
Entomologists called in to sort through the dope for insects
6 orders, 25 families of extraneous insect material
None of the spp known to occur in New Zealand
2 spp of beetles were of interest b/c when they mapped their habitat, there was an overlap & it was believed that the marijuana came from South-East Asia (indicated by the overlap)
describe the tale of “The Washing Away of Wrongs”
A person was murdered in a town & sent someone to investigate it
Person was murdered by a sickle (everyone has a sickle since it was a farming community)
Investigator asked all the men to bring their sickles to the investigator, they waited for some time & waited for flies to land on the sickle
They landed on one man’s sickle who later admitted to the crime
provide 2 descriptions of the nature of a scavenger’s resource
patchy & limited
how is a scavenger’s resource patchy?
resource for specialized insects is patchy
Distance b/w 2 dead animals is substantial
Most scavengers can fly, so they can go on their own terms
Require special receptors to detect the corpses
how is a scavenger’s resource limited?
Quantity – limited
Quality – of resource is limited
Time – making time important due to specific time frames
Facultative cutaneous myiasis
Invasion of tissues of a living vertebrate by a fly larvae
occurs in an animal where there is an infection
how is myiasis used medically?
to clean a wound
They also leave a/bs
what are the 3 decomposers?
flies
beetles
mites
what is the major assumption in the post mortem interval?
Arthropods exhibit a clear, consistent pattern of succession in the colonization of an organic matter resource, related to the process of decay & decomposition
o Quality of a body changes overtime, the spp are specific at which time they feed on the animal
o The insects must be specific for the evidence to be useful in court
what are the stages of decay? (5)
fresh
bloat
decay
post-decay
skeletal
describe the fresh stage of decay
no change in appearance
describe the bloat stage of decay
first changes are changes in flesh colour
Initial decomposition process is from bacteria
describe the decay stage of decay
Wet decay – tissues are wet
Dry decay – tissues are dry
describe the post-decay stage of decay
dry, lots of skin, cartilage etc. still drying
describe the skeletal stage of decay
nothing left but the skeleton
what factors of homicides in MB were considered when doing the study? (4)
- Adult – majority victims are adults
- Knife – murder weapon
- Fully clothed
- Outside
why were pigs used in the study?
have similar gut fauna to humans b/c they’re monogastric as well
what kind of trap was used to collect insect spp?
pitfall traps
what insect was the most important decomposer?
blowflies
what occurred to the pig body during the bloat stage?
o Body cavity filled with gas
what occurred to the pig body during the decay stage?
o Gas explosion occurred
o Liquid running out
o Odour
when did maggots appear on the pig bodies/?
when the body temp incres, producing a lot of heat
