USE OF SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM) IN FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGY

Forensic entomology is an excellent branch of entomology dealing with the study of insects and other arthropods found in and around the corpse and use them for the estimation of post mortem interval (PMI). Fly larvae and fly eggs are used to aid in the determination of a PMI. In order for the data to be useful the larvae and eggs must be identified down to a species level to get an accurate estimate for the PMI. There are many techniques currently being developed to differentiate between the various species of forensically important insects and scanning electron microscopy is one of those.