| dc.description.abstract | Forensic entomology is the scientific study of arthropods in legal investigations. Lucilia cuprina is a carrion feeding blowfly and a primary colonizer commonly used to calculate postmortem interval (PMI) and time of colonization (TOC) to aid in medicolegal death investigations. PMI is the time elapsed since a person’s death while TOC is the time elapsed since arthropods colonized carrion. Forensic entomologists identify exact species found on or near carrion, study research on the development rate of specific arthropods, and determine the temperature of the crime scene to estimate the rate of growth of arthropods found on carrion. By doing so, entomologists can determine the approximate time insects colonized carrion, also known as TOC. This information can assist law enforcement in cross referencing alibis and creating a more accurate timeline before the victim’s death. In this study, L. cuprina were taken from an existing colony at the Forensic Laboratory for Investigative Entomological Sciences (F.L.I.E.S.) Facility at Texas A&M University to assess the development rate. The number of hours required for completion of each life stage (excluding egg) was recorded under the constant temperature of 25°C, typical of an indoor crime scene. The 1st instar larval stage was found to be the shortest stage for an average of about 6 hours while the 3rd instar post-feeding stage was the longest larval stage for an average of about 73.3 hours. However, L. cuprina were in their pupae stage for about 165.5 hours, which was longer than when they were in their larval stage. With the data collected from this research, forensic entomologists from the Southern parts of the United States, specifically Texas, will have a development data to reference to when aging L. cuprina in indoor crime scenes. | en |
