ENTOMOTOXICOLOGY - A NEW AREA FOR FORENSIC INVESTIGATION

Insects and other arthropods can be valuable tools in death investigat ions. In addition to their use in the estimation of postmortem interva ls, insects may serve as reliable alternate specimens for toxicologica l analyses in the absence of tissues and fluids normally taken for suc h purposes. Recent research has also demonstrated that the presence of drugs and/or toxins in decomposing tissues may alter the rate and pat terns of development in arthropods using such tissues as food, thus po tentially altering estimates of the postmortem interval. Current advan ces in the use of arthropods as alternate toxicological specimens and the effects of various drugs and toxins on arthropod development are r eviewed here.