Forensic Entomology: Insects as a Toxicological Indicator and Impact of Drugs and Toxins on Insect Development

Abstract

Anjali Sanjay Bhujbal, Elda Raju and Sandip Rajesh Thakar and Abhijeet Sitaram Rasherao

Entomotoxicology is a modern branch of forensic entomology. The use of insects to determine the possible presence of drugs, toxins or any other pollutants in the corpse. It moreover studies the effects of drugs or toxins on the development of arthropods and thereby to estimate the post mortem interval. Post mortem interval determination is one of the most important aspects in legal medicine. Use of insects as an alternative matrix for drug detection is well documented and recommended when conventional matrices such as blood, urine or internal organs are no longer available. Drugs within a corpse may affect the development rate of insects that feed on them. Carrion flies feed on dead bodies and may consume the toxic substances found within them. The toxic substances can further be extracted from those insects and can be analysed by gas chromatography /mass spectrometry.

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