Forensic entomotoxicology is a branch of forensic medicine, which applies entomology, toxicology and other related studies to solve the poisoning cases. It has an obvious advantage in the investigation on poisoning death. Based on the expounding definition and research of entomotoxicology, this paper reviews research progress and application value in some aspects of forensic medicine, such as the effects of drugs/toxins on the growth and development of sarcosaphagous insects and the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the drugs/toxins in the poisoned body tissue.
Animals ; Death ; Entomology/methods* ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Humans ; Insecta ; Postmortem Changes

The study of sarcosaphagous insects is a subspecialty in forensic medicine based on the knowledge of entomology. It could help to determine the time of death, especially the postmortem interval in decomposed cases. This paper explores its history, species and erosion process of sarcosaphagous insects. It reviews the species identifying methods with molecular biology and entomological morphology. Details of its application in estimating postmortem interval in recent years and study of sarcosaphagous insects in the field of forensic medicine are summarized.
Animals ; Cadaver ; Death ; Diptera/physiology* ; Entomology/methods* ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Humans ; Larva/growth & development* ; Postmortem Changes ; Time Factors

Estimating postmortem interval (PMI) is always the emphasis and difficulty in forensic practice. Forensic entomology plays a significant indispensable role. Recently, the theories and technologies of forensic entomology are increasingly rich. But many problems remain in the research and practice. With proposing the Daubert standard, the reliability and accuracy of estimation PMI by forensic entomology need more demands. This review summarizes the application of the Daubert standard in several aspects of ecology, quantitative genetics, population genetics, molecular biology, and microbiology in the practice of forensic entomology. It builds a bridge for basic research and forensic practice to provide higher accuracy for estimating postmortem interval by forensic entomology.
Animals ; Ecology ; Entomology/methods* ; Forensic Sciences/methods* ; Genetics, Population ; Insecta ; Molecular Biology ; Postmortem Changes ; Reproducibility of Results ; Time Factors

In order to study the range of flight and feeding activity of Anopheles sinensis, the dispersal experiment was conducted in Paju city, located in the northern part of Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea, during the period of 7th to 28th September 1998. Unfed females An. sinensis were collected in cowshed and released after being marked with fluorescent dye at 23:00 hours on the same day. Released female mosquitoes were recaptured everyday during 21 days using light traps, which were set at 10 sites in the cowsheds located 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 km north-northwest and north-northeast and at 3 sites located 1, 6 and 9 km toward south-west from the release point. In addition, to study the longest flight distance in one night, we set the light traps at 16 and 20 km toward north-northeast from the release site. All the collected mosquitoes were placed on filter papers and observed on UV transilluminator after treatment with one drop of 100% ethanol. Out of 12,773 females of An. sinensis released, 194 marked females mosquitoes were recaptured, giving 1.52% recapture rate. Of 194, 72 mosquitoes (37.1%) were recaptured in light traps from three places set at 1 km from the release point, 57 mosquitoes (29.4%) from two places at 1-3 km, 41 mosquitoes (21.1%) from three places at 3-6 km, 20 mosquitoes (10.3%) from three places at 6-9 km, and 4 mosquitoes (2.1%) from two places at 9-12 km. Since 170 female mosquitoes (87.6%) out of 194 marked mosquitoes were captured within 6 km from the release point, this flight radius represents the main activity area. An sinensis was found to be able to fly at least 12 km during one night.
Animals ; Anopheles/*physiology ; Entomology/methods ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; *Flight, Animal ; Fluorescent Dyes ; Korea ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVE: To document the arthropod succession pattern and to identify forensically important species in northeastern Egypt (32° 15' E and 30° 36' N) for the first time. METHODS: Carcasses were exposed in an open area for 60 days during summer season. Ambient daily temperature (maximum and minimum) and relative humidity (RH) were recorded and existing keys were used for identification of different species. RESULTS: During the period of study, the mean of maximum and minimum temperatures were 34.85 °C and 29.2 °C respectively, while the mean of RH was 53.5%. Four stages of decomposition were observed: fresh, bloat, decay and dry. The most abundant orders were found to be Diptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. Arthropods were collected belonging to 4 families of Diptera: Muscidae, Fanniidae, Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae. While there were 2 families of Coleoptera: Dermestidae and Histeridae. Monomorium species was the only Hymenoptera family in this study. CONCLUSION The present work provided a basis for further studies dealing with insect colonization of carcasses in different seasons and locations in Egypt.
Animals ; Arthropods ; classification ; physiology ; Coleoptera ; Diptera ; Egypt ; Entomology ; Feeding Behavior ; Forensic Medicine ; methods ; Hymenoptera ; Insecta ; classification ; Rabbits ; Rats ; Seasons ; Temperature

OBJECTIVE: To study the species of sarcosaphagous insects. METHODS: Rabbits were killed and placed outdoors from March to November. Flies that appeared the cadavers were observed and identified. RESULTS: There are five main flies, i.e., Muscadomesticauicina, Lucilia sericata, C. Megacephala, S. fuscicauda, Aldrichiragrahormi. From midtime of April to the beginning of October, Muscadomesticauicina could be seen on the cadvers, however, Aldrichiragrahormi only could be seen before the beginning of May. Otherwise, Lucilia sericata, C. Megacephala, S. fuscicauda could be seen on the cadvers from March to the end of October. After the midtime of November, none of sarcosaphagous flies could be seen on the cadvers. On the other hand, maggots of sarcosaphagous flies could be seen often on the cadvers after adults of sarcosaphagous flies intruding 1 to 4 days, relating to temperature of environment. CONCLUSION If these flies history of life be studied. it is useful for estimating postmortem interval in Chengdu.
Animals ; Cadaver ; Diptera/physiology* ; Entomology/methods* ; Forensic Medicine ; Larva/growth & development* ; Population Dynamics ; Postmortem Changes ; Rabbits ; Seasons ; Time Factors

Forensic entomology is a branch of forensic medicine, which applies studies of insects and arthropods to getting evidence for court and has an analogous advantage in the estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) and other questions of forensic relevance. The paper expounds its definition and contents and reviews some progress of the studies in some aspects in China such as the constitution and succession of insect community on the different cadavers, the applications of morphological features of insects and the technology of analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in forensic entomology, and forensic entomological toxicology etc.
Animals ; China ; Diptera/growth & development* ; Entomology ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Larva/growth & development* ; Muscidae ; Postmortem Changes ; Time Factors

Diptera Calliphoridae is the first major kind of flies that appears on the decomposed corpses. In forensic entomology, according to the living characteristics of Calliphoridae flies, we could accurately estimate postmortem interval (PMI) in a murder or unidentified case and could provide useful clues to solve the case. This paper introduces the characteristics of the biology and morphology of Diptera Calliphoridae, and reviews the combined application of forensic entomology, molecular biology, mathematical morphology and toxicology.
Animals ; Autopsy ; Cadaver ; Diptera ; Entomology ; Forensic Anthropology ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Forensic Sciences ; Humans ; Postmortem Changes ; Time Factors

Sarcosaphagous insects are very important to investigate some criminal cases. They are significant useful in estimating post-mortem interval (PMI) and corpse transfer post-mortem. Lucilia are very common sarcosaphagous insects. They like sunshine and are usually the earliest to touch the cadaver. These characteristics and others such as the stages of their larvae development can offer good evidences for criminal case investigation. This paper summarizes details of their application for estimating postmortem interval in recent years and reviews the methods to identify species and to determine the age of adult Lucilia with molecular biology and entomological morphology.
Animals ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics* ; Diptera/physiology* ; Entomology/methods* ; Feeding Behavior ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Larva/physiology* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods* ; Postmortem Changes ; Seasons ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Species Specificity ; Weather

OBJECTIVE: To identify the common Sarcophagidae with a 278 bp fragment of cytochrome oxidase I in mitochondrial DNA and to obtain an unambiguous and rapid identification method for Sarcophagidae in forensic investigations. METHODS: Nineteen Sarcosaprophagous flies were collected from 16 locations in 12 Chinese provinces. All specimens were comprised of 4 species. The mtDNA of flies was extracted with SDSPK extraction method. Polymerase chain reaction was conducted in an Eppendorf 5331 thermal cycler. The PCR products were purified and sequenced and the obtained sequences were uploaded to GenBank. A neighbor-joining tree was constructed with MEGA4.0 package. RESULTS: The 19 Sarcosaprophagous flies were well clustered. The intraspecific variation within species varied from 0% to 3%, while the interspecific variations between species varied from 8% to 12%. CONCLUSION Congeneric species can be separated by the short fragment (278 bp region in the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene), which will be instrumental for implementation of the Chinese Sarcophagidae database and lay a foundation for post mortem interval estimation in future forensic cases.
Animals ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; genetics ; Electron Transport Complex IV ; genetics ; Entomology ; methods ; Forensic Pathology ; methods ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Postmortem Changes ; Sarcophagidae ; classification ; enzymology ; genetics ; Species Specificity