Medicolegal Forensic Entomology Essay

Introduction

Medicolegal forensic entomology is the study of insects associated with a human corpse, primarily in the estimation of postmortem interval (PMI). PMI is the period of time between death and corpse discovery, which can be difficult to determine after 72 hours of death[1]. Therefore, entomological data is frequently the only method to estimate the PMI in decomposing body.

In Malaysia, studies on the insect fauna associated with decomposing carcasses had been conducted mainly in peninsular region[2]. To date, no forensic entomological information has been documented from Sabah, the northern part of Borneo which is well known for its unique faunistic diversity.

Since insect succession patterns are varied dependent on geographical locations[3], the entomological data collected in peninsular Malaysia might be accurate only for the respective localities where the studies were done but might

megacephala and Ch. rufifaciesremain as the common fly species recovered during fresh and bloated stage of decomposition and therefore served as important forensic indicators [1,6-9]. In addition, our findings also recorded Hy. violaceaas one of the earliest ovipositors on pig carcass. Hy.violacea(Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a very large fly (15 mm or more) with its hypopygium strongly developed in males. This species was only observed during the fresh and bloated stage of decomposition.Hy.Violacea is considered as forensically important fly and had been reported in literatures as being the first colonizers on animal carcasses placed outdoors in estates and forested areas[1,3,10].The first study on the larval growth parameter and growth rate of this blow fly species was reported by Chen in 2008[11].The larvae of Hy.violacea were recovered from a corpse for the first time by Ahmad Firdaus in 2010 [12].The absence of this species from monkey carcass placed in the campus shrub area is expected as Hy.violaceais a forested