Accurate age estimates of immature necrophagous insects associated with a human or animal body can provide evidence of how long the body has been dead.These estimates are based on species-specific details of the inse...Accurate age estimates of immature necrophagous insects associated with a human or animal body can provide evidence of how long the body has been dead.These estimates are based on species-specific details of the insects’aging processes,and therefore require accurate species identification and developmental stage estimation.Many professionals who produce or use identified organisms as forensic evidence have little training in taxonomy or metrology,and appreciate the availability of formalized principles and standards for biological identification.Taxonomic identifications are usually most readily and economically made using categorical and qualitative morphological characters,but it may be necessary to use less convenient and potentially more ambiguous characters that are continuous and quantitative if two candidate species are closely related,or if identifying developmental stages within a species.Characters should be selected by criteria such as taxonomic specificity and metrological repeatability and relative error.We propose such a hierarchical framework,critique various measurements of immature insects,and suggest some standard approaches to determine the reliability of organismal identifications and measurements in estimating postmortem intervals.Relevant criteria for good characters include high repeatability(including low scope for ambiguity or parallax effects),pronounced discreteness,and small relative error in measurements.These same principles apply to individuation of unique objects in general.展开更多
Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius,1794) occurs on every continent and is closely associated with carrion and decaying material in human environments.Its abilities to find dead bodies and carry pathogens give it a promi...Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius,1794) occurs on every continent and is closely associated with carrion and decaying material in human environments.Its abilities to find dead bodies and carry pathogens give it a prominence in human affairs that may involve prosecution or litigation,and therefore forensic entomologists.The identification,geographical distribution and biology of the species are reviewed to provide a background for approaches that four branches of forensic entomology (urban,stored-product,medico-criminal and environmental) might take to investigations involving this fly.展开更多
Preservation of viable tissue is important in wound management. It is achieved by small, incremental removal of devitalised, necrotic and infected tissues. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is used in septic necrotic w...Preservation of viable tissue is important in wound management. It is achieved by small, incremental removal of devitalised, necrotic and infected tissues. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is used in septic necrotic wounds that fail to respond to conventional modalities. MDT has relied on Lucilia cuprina, which consumes only necrotic tissues, as opposed to Lucilia cuprina, which devours both flesh and necrotic tissues. Recent findings have shown that L. cuprina consumes mainly necrotic and very small amounts of viable tissues and may be used in MDT where L. sericata is very rare or absent. Here we describe wound healing in a patient from rural South Africa with cutaneous myiasis. Our findings agree with workers who indicated that L. cuprina could be used in MDT.展开更多
文摘Accurate age estimates of immature necrophagous insects associated with a human or animal body can provide evidence of how long the body has been dead.These estimates are based on species-specific details of the insects’aging processes,and therefore require accurate species identification and developmental stage estimation.Many professionals who produce or use identified organisms as forensic evidence have little training in taxonomy or metrology,and appreciate the availability of formalized principles and standards for biological identification.Taxonomic identifications are usually most readily and economically made using categorical and qualitative morphological characters,but it may be necessary to use less convenient and potentially more ambiguous characters that are continuous and quantitative if two candidate species are closely related,or if identifying developmental stages within a species.Characters should be selected by criteria such as taxonomic specificity and metrological repeatability and relative error.We propose such a hierarchical framework,critique various measurements of immature insects,and suggest some standard approaches to determine the reliability of organismal identifications and measurements in estimating postmortem intervals.Relevant criteria for good characters include high repeatability(including low scope for ambiguity or parallax effects),pronounced discreteness,and small relative error in measurements.These same principles apply to individuation of unique objects in general.
文摘Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius,1794) occurs on every continent and is closely associated with carrion and decaying material in human environments.Its abilities to find dead bodies and carry pathogens give it a prominence in human affairs that may involve prosecution or litigation,and therefore forensic entomologists.The identification,geographical distribution and biology of the species are reviewed to provide a background for approaches that four branches of forensic entomology (urban,stored-product,medico-criminal and environmental) might take to investigations involving this fly.
文摘Preservation of viable tissue is important in wound management. It is achieved by small, incremental removal of devitalised, necrotic and infected tissues. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is used in septic necrotic wounds that fail to respond to conventional modalities. MDT has relied on Lucilia cuprina, which consumes only necrotic tissues, as opposed to Lucilia cuprina, which devours both flesh and necrotic tissues. Recent findings have shown that L. cuprina consumes mainly necrotic and very small amounts of viable tissues and may be used in MDT where L. sericata is very rare or absent. Here we describe wound healing in a patient from rural South Africa with cutaneous myiasis. Our findings agree with workers who indicated that L. cuprina could be used in MDT.
