Entomology

Forensic And Investigative Sciences 205 with Tomberlin at Texas A&M University

About this deck

By: Tina Fowler
Textbook:

Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques, Third Edition (Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific & Investigative Techniques)
Created: 2011-10-10
Size: 54 flashcards
Views: 13

About StudyBlue

STUDYBLUE makes things that make you better at school. Things like online flashcards with photos and audio. Things like personalized quizzes and friendly reminders about when (and what) to study next. Think of it as a digital backpack™: access to all of your study materials online and on your phone. STUDYBLUE exists to make studying efficient and effective for every student, for free. Join us.

“Simply amazing. The flash cards are smooth, there are many different types of studying tools, and there is a great search engine. I praise you on the awesomeness.”
Dennis

Sign up (free) to study this.

Stored products pest

any arthropod that is involved in food and other products, producers of wheat and grain have a 10% probability to contamination, in 3^rd world countries its 30%

Types of Litigation

insect debris in cereal, caterpillars in cans of vegetables, fly maggots in fast food, defraud “planting” insects.

Insects you DON’T want to eat

rice weevils, granary weevil, & cow pea weevil they are about an 8^th in long, lesser grain beetle, drug store or biscuit beetle, cigarette or tobacco beetle, saw tooth grain beetle, red flour beetle, larder beetle, Indian meal moth abt 5mm

How do they infest food?

field, post-harvest storage, processing plant ( prior to processing, during processing, or post processing), point of sale or transportation, grocery store, consumer level

Types of stored product pests

kernel type (whole or broken), feeding strategy (internal (larvae), external, scavengers, secondary pests(not their primary diet))

Food defect action levels

to establish maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in food for human use that presents no health hazards

Insects can not exceed

Ketchup – 30 fruit fly eggs/100g
Canned corn – 2 insects larvae/24 lb
blueberries – 2 maggots/100 berries
Peanut butter – 30 insect fragments/100g
2c of flour – 450 fragments

Urban Entomology

arthropods and how they relate to humans, their structures and their companion animals

Fleas

small wingless insects, feed on blood of human and animals, most expensive pests for humans ($9 billion/year) Cat flea is the most common in Texas

Termites

social insects, cause major damage, more than $2 billion/year in U.S., globally its $22 billion/year

Subterranean termites

native, and formosam termites ( they eat live trees, they were brought into U.S.)

Dry Wood termites

they have wings

Wood destroying beetles

death watch beetles feed, long horn beetles, true powder post beetles leave holes in wood

Bed bugs

nocturnal blood feeders, dwell where hosts live, been around since ancient times numbers dropped for a while and now they are back up, recent lawsuit $20 million for infestation of bed bugs in hotel room, several settled for $100,000.

Lice

human crab louse (sexual assault, crabs were transferred to victim and DNA was found to convict the suspect)

Cockroaches

annoyance, allergies, bites, litigation when found in restaurants, abuse or neglect cases, mechanically vector bacteria, fungi, helminthes, mold, protozoan
American cockroaches(inside), german cockroaches(inside), smoky brown cockroach(outside)

Ants

neglect and abuse cases, ants infest fresh bodies, allergic reactions, mechanically vector diseases, structural damage, ants can sting and bite

Flies

nuisance, confined animal facilities, cattle feed lots, poultry houses, mechanical vector disease ecoli, flies transfer MRSA in hospitals, common house fly, blow flies, flesh flies, stable flies create wounds to feed off the pool of blood

Mortuary Neglect

cases where bodies aren’t embalmed properly, bodies start to decompose before burial

Myiasis

the infestation of maggots in living or dead tissue in livestock or humans

Bot flies

burrow in your skin

13^th century China

murder in the rice field that no one admitted to the murder so they made them line up their sickles and the flies all flocked to one particular sickle

19^th century France

Megnin and Bergeret did decomposition studies on human remains they noticed that insects have series.

19^th century U.S.

Murray Motter buried 125 bodies from 6 months to 25 years this research complied with the studies in France.

1950’s

H.B. reed examined carcasses of dogs and only specific species colonized the bodies

1960’s

Jerry Payne father of entomology he stuck out pig fetus’ and he put them in terrestrial aquatic trees and buried environments all of these insect succession are different.

Stages of decomposition for terrestrial Carrion:

Fresh
Bloated
Advanced decay
Dry remains
Skeletal remains

Cool and dry environments can mummify the body, and leave imprints in the ground

Submerged Carrion:

Fresh
Early floating
Floating decay
Bloated deterioration
Floating remains
Sunken remains

Period of Insect Activity

establishing the period of insect activity (PIA) not the post mortem interval (PMI)

Toxicology

testing parts of insect remains for narcotics, larval skins and pupal cases, various drugs affect insect development

Location of death

species specific to regions, fauna found in different areas in different times of the year

Mites example

body found in wooden lot and the mites are only found in California wood not Carolina wood, the suspect had mite bites and he was convicted

Collecting methods

there is not a set amount of the number of maggots you should collect, note where the maggots were located

Preservation

Adult and Larvae specimens can be placed in 75% ethanol and heat water kill, make sure not to mix samples, collect adults for species and place in a kill jar (ethyl acetate), put proper labels.

Rearing insect evidence

they are raised in a chamber and used for later species ID

Life cycle of flies

egg, larval (1^st instars 2^nd instars 3^rd instars), pupae, and adults

Cochliomyia macellaria

(secondary screwworm) – primary colonizers

Chrysoma rufifaces

(hairy maggot blow fly) secondary colonizer; will eat anything and everything

Phormia regina

(black blow fly) – cooler weather larvae cause Myiasis (live tissue colonization), beneficial for helping wounds

Lucilia Cuprina

(bronze bottle fly) warm weather cause Myiasis

Lucilia Serricata

(sheep blow fly) – sunlight and open areas

Wound Debridement therapy (WDT)

Since the civil war, Diabetic ulcers, antibiotic resistant microbes, must use the correct species

Calliphora spp.

(blue bottle flies) – only found during the winter, or shade

Sacrophagidae

(flesh flies) – Myiasis warm weather, latter to the carrion, mechanical vectors

Musca Domestica

(common house fly) – not fresh decay, later in decay process

Phoridae

(hump backed flies) really bad with infestation of lab colonies

Beetles life cycle

eggs, larvae, pupae and adult

Staphylinidae

rove beetles advanced stages of decay

Silphidae

advanced decomposition and decay, they will eat other left over maggots

Hiteridae

clown beetles, advanced dry stages of decomposition

Cleridae

red legged ham beetles, have blue backs and red legs, late in decomposition

Dermestidae

skin beetle, dry remains of the decomposition

Trogidae

hide beetles, not very common

Scarabaeidae

after bloat but prior to maggot migration, not very common

About this deck

By: Tina Fowler
Textbook:

About StudyBlue

“Simply amazing. The flash cards are smooth, there are many different types of studying tools, and there is a great search engine. I praise you on the awesomeness.”
Dennis