Skip to main content

Correlation of Insects with Forensic Sciences

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Trends in Insect Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Abstract

This chapter portrays the importance of insects in forensic sciences and highlights that how the insects are used as evidence in the court and how they can assist in solving crimes. Forensic science plays a key role in the investigation of crimes and terrorism. Forensic entomology is one of the emerging fields of forensic sciences which aids in legal investigation. Postmortem interval or time since death is the time elapsed from death to the discovery of the corpse. Various methods are used to estimate postmortem intervals. They include algor mortis, livor mortis, rigor mortis, and chemical and enzymatic changes. Insects also play a significant role in estimation of time since death which is a prime concern in the field of forensic medicine. Insects are considered to be the first visitors on any decomposing dead matter. Forensic entomology is a field that is highly neglected around the world so far. Much research work is required to flourish this field for the purpose of forensic investigation. The basic challenge for forensic entomologists is the identification of insects at larval stages as they all look similar. The taxonomic keys for identification at this level are still unavailable. There is a need to cover the drawbacks of morphological identification of these species especially if the adult form of insect is not available.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amendt J, Krettek R, Zehner R (2004) Forensic entomology. Nature Science 91:51–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Benecke M (2004) Forensic entomology: arthropods and corpses. In: Tsokos M (ed) Forensic pathology reviews, vol ΙΙ. Humana, Totowa, NJ, pp 207–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrd JH, Castner JL (2010) Forensic Entomology: The Utility of Arthropods in Legal Investigations. 2nd Edition. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 681

    Google Scholar 

  • Campobasso CP et al (2005) Forensic genetic analysis of insect gut contents. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 26(2):161–165

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Divya JK, Sathe TV (2015) Diversity occurrence and development of forensic insects in Dog canis domesticus L Carcass from Kolhapur India. Int J Pharm Bio Sci 6:498–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomes L, Godoy WAC, Von Zuben CJ (2006) A review of postfeeding larval dispersal in blowflies: implications for forensic entomology. Naturwissenschaften 93(5):207–215

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg B (1991) Flies as forensic indicators. J Med Entomol 28(5):565–577

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jeffreys AJ, Wilson V, Thein SL (1985) Individual-specific ‘fingerprints’ of human DNA. Nature 316(6023):76–79

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jobling MA, Gill P (2004) Encoded evidence: DNA in forensic analysis. Nat Rev Genet 5(10):739–751

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joseph I et al (2011) The use of insects in forensic investigations: an overview on the scope of forensic entomology. J Forensic Dent Sci 3(2):89–91

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Krikken J, Huijbregts J (2001) Insects as forensic informants: the Dutch experience and procedure. Proc Exp Appl Entomol 12:159–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulstein G, Amendt J, Zehner R (2015) Blow fly artifacts from blood and putrefaction fluid on various surfaces: a source for forensic STR typing. Entomol Exp Appl 157(3):255–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lord WD, Rodrigues WC (1989) Forensic entomology: the use of insects in the investigation of homicide and untimely death

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehus JO, Vaughan JA (2013) Molecular identification of vertebrate and hemoparasite DNA within mosquito blood meals from eastern North Dakota. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 13(11):818–824

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rein BM (2001) Purely unilateral occurrence of blowfly maggots in the face of a decomposing body. Arch Kriminol 208:182–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma R, Kumar Garg R, Gaur JR (2015) Various methods for the estimation of the post mortem interval from Calliphoridae: a review. Egypt J Forensic Sci 5(1):1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shin SE et al (2015) The first survey of forensically important entomofauna collected from medicolegal autopsies in South Korea. Biomed Res Int 2015:6

    Google Scholar 

  • Triplehorn CA, Johnson NF (2004) Borror and DeLong’s introduction to the study of insects. Thomson Brooks/Cole, Belmont, p 888

    Google Scholar 

  • Varatharajan R, Sen A (2000) Role of entomology in forensic sciences. Curr Sci 78(5):544–545

    Google Scholar 

  • Villet MH, Amendt J (2011) Advances in entomological methods for death time estimation. In: Turk EE (ed) Forensic pathology reviews. Humana, New York, 213–217s

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mian Sahib Zar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Zar, M.S., Huang, M. (2018). Correlation of Insects with Forensic Sciences. In: Kumar, D., Gong, C. (eds) Trends in Insect Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61343-7_15

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics