Death investigation is a multi-disciplinary effort employing the skills of different forensic specialists from fields as diverse as pathology, anthropology, odontology and entomology. In the examination of skeletal trauma, the contribution of the analysis by the forensic anthropologists is essential. Such an analysis helps determine whether skeletal injuries are temporally associated with the e...

The beetle family Cholevidae (Coleoptera: Staphylinoidea), sometimes viewed as the subfamily Cholevinae of the Leiodidae, consists of some 1700 species worldwide. With the exception of specialized cave-dwelling species and species living in bird and mammal nests and burrows, the species are generalized soil-dwellers that, at least in temperate regions, are mostly found on vertebrate cadavers. A...

Cochliomyia Townsend includes several abundant and one of the most broadly distributed, blow flies in the Americas, and is of significant economic and forensic importance. For decades, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) and Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius) have received attention as livestock parasites and primary indicator species in forensic entomology. However, Cochliomyia minima Shannon a...

The ability to identify individual human hosts based on analyses of blood recovered from hematophagous insects is beneficial for both medical and forensic entomology. Bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L. (Heteroptera: Cimicidae), may have several advantages over other blood-feeding arthropods for forensics because they do not remain on the host after their blood-feeding activity and remain in close p...

Carrion beetles are important in terrestrial ecosystems, consuming dead mammals and promoting the recycling of organic matter into ecosystems. Most forensic studies are focused on succession of Diptera while neglecting Coleoptera. So far, little information is available on carrion beetles postmortem colonization and decomposition process in temperate biogeoclimatic countries. These beetles are ...

The bodies of socially isolated people may remain undiscovered in their own houses for prolonged periods. Occasionally the body is in situ for sufficient time to become skeletonised, or partially so. Medico-legal investigation of these cases is complicated by degradation and contamination of evidence. Thus, a multidisciplinary forensic investigation is recommended. The potential contributions o...