A preliminary investigation of the entomofauna composition of forensically important necrophagous insects in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The key role in forensic entomology is the study of entomofauna composition through species identification, succession, colonization, and developmental rate. In this study, rabbit carcasses were used as a model to identify the forensic insect species in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia. The ap...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abeer Ali Al-Dakhil, Shorooq A. Alharbi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-01-01
Series:Journal of Taibah University for Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16583655.2020.1805176
Description
Summary:The key role in forensic entomology is the study of entomofauna composition through species identification, succession, colonization, and developmental rate. In this study, rabbit carcasses were used as a model to identify the forensic insect species in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia. The appearance and succession of these insects can help in the estimation of the minimum postmortem interval (mPMI) and in many other applications in this region. During the decomposition process, the most important forensic insects observed were from the orders Diptera and Coleoptera. Seven species in five families of Diptera and four families of Coleoptera were identified. The most abundant species in the area that colonized the carcasses were Chrysomya albiceps Widemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and Dermestes maculatus De Geer, which can be used for mPMI estimations. This study was the first conducted in Al-Madinah Region to provide a qualitative assessment of forensically important necrophagous species in this region.
ISSN:1658-3655