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Insects
Special Issues
Forensic Entomology: Beyond the Bounds of Possibility
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Forensic Entomology: Beyond the Bounds of Possibility

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Role of Insects in Human Society".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2023) | Viewed by 13089

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ian R. Dadour

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Source Certain International, Shenton House, 57 Shenton Ave, Joondalup 6027, Australia
Interests: forensic entomology; water forensics; decomposition
Dr. Paola A. Magni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Discipline of Medical, Molecular & Forensic Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia
2. Murdoch University Singapore, King’s Centre, 390 Havelock Road, 169662, Singapore
Interests: forensic entomology; taphonomy; water forensica

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The largest group of macro-decomposers in both terrestrial and aquatic environments are the arthropods. On land, these are mainly flies and beetles, but also mites and isopods. In freshwater, they are mainly insect larvae, while in the marine environment, crustaceans represent the major necro-taxa. In the terrestrial environment, we have a significant understanding of insect behavior, mating systems, population genetics, ecology, and developmental biology, whereas in the aquatic environment, we have far less knowledge of decomposition and colonization processes driven by arthropods. Forensic entomology is the application of knowledge about arthropods for crime scene reconstruction, especially to estimate a time since death interval. The application of new technologies to forensic entomology to enhance estimates of the time of death includes methodologies belonging to chemistry (e.g., entomotoxicology for drug identification and insect development), molecular biology (DNA for taxonomy and host identification from gut content), and physics (e.g., CT scanning, hyperspectral and infrared imaging for determining age and discovery). Therefore, in this Special Issue, we would like to express how we can integrate new technologies in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. The way forward will be to adapt a multitude of scientific disciplines within forensic entomology to reduce the social impact of crime.

Prof. Dr. Ian R. Dadour
Dr. Paola A. Magni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • time since death interval
  • decomposition
  • taxonomy
  • molecular genetics
  • imaging
  • entomotoxicology
  • aquatic arthropods
  • arthropod development

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4262 KiB  
Article
Qualitative Analyses of Textile Damage (Cuts and Tears) Applied to Fabrics Exposed to the Decomposition of Carcasses and Associated Insect Activity in an Austral Summer
by Sotirios Ziogos, Ian R. Dadour, Kari Pitts and Paola A. Magni
Insects 2023, 14(7), 618; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects14070618 - 09 Jul 2023
Viewed by 3161
Abstract
Fatal stabbings are the leading cause of homicide in countries with restricted access to firearms, such as Australia. The analysis of damage on clothing imparted by a sharp object can assist in the characterization of the weapon. However, decomposition and carrion insects can [...] Read more.
Fatal stabbings are the leading cause of homicide in countries with restricted access to firearms, such as Australia. The analysis of damage on clothing imparted by a sharp object can assist in the characterization of the weapon. However, decomposition and carrion insects can modify the features of the damage, impeding textile damage analysis and crime reconstruction. This study aimed to identify and characterize the modifications of textile damage over 47 days of decomposition during the summer season in Western Australia. Fabric modifications were analyzed on cotton, synthetic, and blended fabrics with standardized cuts and tears, wrapped on 99 stillborn piglets. Six unclothed piglets acted as controls, with three being stabbed. All piglets were placed simultaneously in the field alongside swatches of fabric. Analyses considered taphonomy, insect interactions, and any textile damage using optical microscopy and SEM. The results showed that carrion insects can modify existing cuts and tears and introduce new artifacts on textiles. The 100% cotton fabric was the most affected by mechanical and chemical degradation, especially cuts and areas stained with blood or decomposition fluids. The study highlights the combined effect of multiple factors on textile damage, including the type of fabric, initial damage, bloating, insect activity, and biodegradation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic Entomology: Beyond the Bounds of Possibility)
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15 pages, 3509 KiB  
Article
Pupal Age Estimation of Sarcophaga peregrina (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) at Different Constant Temperatures Utilizing ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy and Cuticular Hydrocarbons
by Yanjie Shang, Yakai Feng, Lipin Ren, Xiangyan Zhang, Fengqin Yang, Changquan Zhang and Yadong Guo
Insects 2023, 14(2), 143; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects14020143 - 31 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1675
Abstract
Sarcophaga peregrina (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) is a forensically important flesh fly that has potential value in estimating the PMImin. The precise pupal age estimation has great implications for PMImin estimation. During larval development, the age determination is straightforward by the morphological changes [...] Read more.
Sarcophaga peregrina (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) is a forensically important flesh fly that has potential value in estimating the PMImin. The precise pupal age estimation has great implications for PMImin estimation. During larval development, the age determination is straightforward by the morphological changes and variation of length and weight, however, the pupal age estimation is more difficult due to anatomical and morphological changes not being visible. Thus, it is necessary to find new techniques and methods that can be implemented by standard experiments for accurate pupal age estimation. In this study, we first investigated the potential of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) for the age estimations of S. peregrina pupae at different constant temperatures (20 °C, 25 °C, and 30 °C). The orthogonal projections latent structure discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA) classification model was used to distinguish the pupae samples of different developmental ages. Then, a multivariate statistical regression model, partial least squares (PLS), was established with the spectroscopic and hydrocarbon data for pupal age estimations. We identified 37 CHCs with a carbon chain length between 11 and 35 in the pupae of S. peregrina. The results of the OPLS-DA model show a significant separation between different developmental ages of pupae (R2X > 0.928, R2Y > 0.899, Q2 > 0.863). The PLS model had a satisfactory prediction with a good fit between the actual and predicted ages of the pupae (R2 > 0.927, RMSECV < 1.268). The results demonstrate that the variation tendencies of spectroscopy and hydrocarbons were time-dependent, and ATR-FTIR and CHCs may be optimal for the age estimations of pupae of forensically important flies with implications for PMImin estimation in forensic practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic Entomology: Beyond the Bounds of Possibility)
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10 pages, 1060 KiB  
Article
Predicting the Weathering Time by the Empty Puparium of Sarcophaga peregrina (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) with the ANN Models
by Xiangyan Zhang, Yang Bai, Fernand Jocelin Ngando, Hongke Qu, Yanjie Shang, Lipin Ren and Yadong Guo
Insects 2022, 13(9), 808; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects13090808 - 05 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1435
Abstract
Empty puparium are frequently collected at crime scenes and may provide valuable evidence in cases with a long postmortem interval (PMI). Here, we collected the puparium of Sarcophaga peregrina (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) for 120 days at three temperatures (10 °C, 25 °C, [...] Read more.
Empty puparium are frequently collected at crime scenes and may provide valuable evidence in cases with a long postmortem interval (PMI). Here, we collected the puparium of Sarcophaga peregrina (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) for 120 days at three temperatures (10 °C, 25 °C, and 40 °C) with the aim to estimate the weathering time of empty puparium. The CHC profiles were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The partial least squares (PLS), support vector regression (SVR), and artificial neural network (ANN) models were used to estimate the weathering time. This identified 49 CHCs with a carbon chain length between 10 and 33 in empty puparium. The three models demonstrate that the variation tendency of hydrocarbon could be used to estimate the weathering time, while the ANN models show the best predictive ability among these three models. This work indicated that puparial hydrocarbon weathering has certain regularity with weathering time and can gain insight into estimating PMI in forensic investigations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic Entomology: Beyond the Bounds of Possibility)
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22 pages, 4803 KiB  
Article
Domestic Filth Flies in New Haven, Connecticut: A Case Study on the Effects of Urbanization and Climate Change by Comparing Fly Populations after 78 Years
by Julie Pinto, Paola A. Magni, R. Christopher O’Brien and Ian R. Dadour
Insects 2021, 12(11), 972; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects12110972 - 27 Oct 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2083
Abstract
Changes in common and widespread insect populations such as the domestic filth fly in urban cities are useful and relevant bioindicators for overall changes in the insect biomass. The current study surveyed necrophagous flies by placing a weekly trap from June–September over a [...] Read more.
Changes in common and widespread insect populations such as the domestic filth fly in urban cities are useful and relevant bioindicators for overall changes in the insect biomass. The current study surveyed necrophagous flies by placing a weekly trap from June–September over a two-year period in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, to compare data on fly abundance and diversity with data collected 78 years earlier. Climate and land cover changes were also assessed in combination with the fly population for each period. The survey results suggest the domestic filth fly population is now less diverse with decreased species richness and changes in the relative abundance of species. In both surveys, 95–96% of the population was composed of only three species. The current survey data indicate the numerical dominance of Lucilia sericata has decreased, the abundance of several species, notably Lucilia coeruleiviridis, has increased, and Lucilia illustris is absent. Species that showed a significant interaction with temperature in the 1940s survey have now increased in abundance, with several of the trapped species continuing to show an interaction with temperature and rainfall. Analysis of the land cover and climate data characterizes the trap site as a region exposed to a prolonged period of industrialization and urbanization, with only 7% of the land cover remaining undeveloped and over 50% impervious, coupled with an increase in temperature and rainfall. This study serves as a model for changes in domestic filth fly populations and other insects in similarly highly urbanized established cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic Entomology: Beyond the Bounds of Possibility)
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10 pages, 6179 KiB  
Article
Behavioral and Electrophysiological Responses of the Fringed Larder Beetle Dermestes frischii to the Smell of a Cadaver at Different Decomposition Stages
by Clément Martin, Damien Minchilli, Frédéric Francis and François Verheggen
Insects 2020, 11(4), 238; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects11040238 - 10 Apr 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3130
Abstract
A cadaver is colonized by a wide diversity of necrophagous insects. It is well documented that Dipterans are attracted by the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by a corpse during the first minutes following death. Coleopterans are known to be attracted by highly [...] Read more.
A cadaver is colonized by a wide diversity of necrophagous insects. It is well documented that Dipterans are attracted by the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by a corpse during the first minutes following death. Coleopterans are known to be attracted by highly decomposed cadavers, but have received less attention regarding the olfaction-based mechanisms underlying these interactions. In the present study, we impregnated gauzes with VOCs collected from each decomposition stage of dead rats: fresh, bloated, active, and advanced decay. We collected the VOCs released by the gauze and confirmed what was previously know from the literature: the decomposition stages are associated with contrasting chemical profiles. We exposed Dermestes frischii Kugelann (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) male and female antennae to the same gauzes and found that stronger electrical responses were recorded when using the smell of the advanced decay stage. Finally, we performed two choices behavioral assays. Females showed no preference for the four decomposition stages, while males were attracted by the smell associated with active and advanced decay stages. These results suggest that specific VOCs released by a decaying body guide necrophagous coleopterans to their feeding site. Whether D. frischii males release pheromones to attract females remains to be tested. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forensic Entomology: Beyond the Bounds of Possibility)
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