On a hot summer day in Florida, a decomposing female body was found in a park. An elderly woman suffering from dementia is on the missing person’s list. When CSIs arrived, they found blowfly larvae around the head. Unopened pupal cases were under the leaf litter near the body. The forensic entomologist needs to determine how long the body has been colonized by blowfly larvae. Is the PMI estimate consistent with the length of time that the woman was missing?

Your teacher may suggest that you do one or more of the following mini projects in lieu of some of the longer activities in the chapter. When your project is completed, you will have the opportunity to present it to your class or to a larger group.

There are 8 mini projects students may be asked to complete.

By the end of this activity, you will be able to:

Distinguish between male and female adult blowflies based on eye position.

Define the terms anterior, posterior, dorsal, and ventral, and locate those areas on both adults and larvae.

Locate and describe the function of mouth hooks, spiracles, crops, and setae in the larval forms.

Locate and state the function of antennae, proboscis, and maxillary palps.

Compare and contrast the feeding mechanisms of fly adults and larvae.

Relate the significance of larval structures to forensic entomology.

At the conclusion of this activity, you will be able to:

Analyze and use data regarding the presence of insects found at a crime scene to estimate PMIs.

Describe how the presence or absence of insects found at a crime scene provides evidence as to what occurred at the crime scene.

Apply lower limit thresholds, adjusted average temperatures, and ADH to estimate PMIs.