Entomology

A person who studies insects and their relevance to a crime scene

• Anthropologist

• Entomologist

• Odontologist

• Pathologist

Entomologists can study the crime scene by determining the

• Stage of development of maggots

• Concentration of butyric acid

• Sequence of insect arrival

• Mechanism of death

"Necrophilous insects"

• Dead-tissue loving

• Acellular

• Asexual

• Have high reproductive potential

The first insects to colonize a corpse are

• Cheese skippers

• Beetles

• Blowfly

• Spiders

Predatory insects that sometimes colonize a corpse to eat the larvae and maggots and eggs

• Cheese skippers

• Beetles

• Ants and wasps

• Spiders

Other flies that may colonize the body after blowflies have left

• Cheese skippers

• Beetles

• Ants and wasps

• Spiders

Omnivorous insects that colonize the body to feed on other organisms and surrounding vegetation

• Cheese skippers

• Beetles

• Ants and wasps

• Spiders

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

Insects that interact with the body coincidentally once it has decomposed enough to become part of the landscape

• Cheese skippers

• Beetles

• Ants and wasps

• Spiders

Temperature, climate, indigenous species, geographical location, drug concentration and habitat and body characteristics can affect

• Colonization of specific insects

• Formation of ammonia

• Livor mortis

• Rate of scavenging by mammals

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

Where would an insect be likely to colonize first?

• Feet

• Nose

• Elbow

• Fingernails