How the insects help police in solving crimes?

Forensic entomology — the study of insects for medico-legal purposes — helps in discovering the estimated time of death, which is the most common need for police. The time of death can be estimated by using a successional waves of insects, which are used when individuals have been dead for longer than one month, as well as determining the age of the maggot — a method used when the discovery of the body is done within one month after death. The blowflies are the quickest of all insects that discover a corpse. The other common types of insects include flies, eggs, maggots, pupae or empty pupal cases, adult blow flies, as well as beetles. Once the body begins to decompose, a series of insects can by detected — microorganisms, fungi and bacteria — on the corpse. When bodies decay and dry, flies find the body less suitable. The mouth hooks of maggots are also unable to effectively operate, yet, the immature and adult formed beetles arrive even at the later stages of body’s decomposition. However, if drugs are found in the body’s system, insect evidence may be affected, as chemicals play a large role with the growth. Depending on the weather conditions, the bodies can decompose slow or fast, nevertheless it goes through five main changes that attract different organisms that will feed on the body and recycle — thus allowing investigators to determine the time of death. The basic five stages of decomposition are — fresh, putrefaction, fermentation, dry/decay and skeletonisation.