Entomology Lab Reflection

Allison Alcantara

Ms. Connor

Advanced Forensics

October 2, 2014

Entomology Lab Reflection

        On September 8th 2014, my class and I started a lab in order to observe and study the decomposition of a pork shoulder. On the first day there was nothing unusual about the pork shoulder, it was fresh, so we placed it outside and covered it. That first day we only noticed a few flies showing up as soon as we placed it but nothing more. We went back two days later, the pork shoulder was covered with flies, specifically blue bottle flies, bees, and wasps. When we got closer the shoulder seemed dried up and more like leather. No larvae was present. Two days after that, we returned to a foul smell and a lot more flies. The shoulder still looked like leather but was now filled with maggots and flies. When we moved the shoulder you could see the small maggot mass inside it and a saliva looking substance. That day we collected maggots. Three days after that when we returned the smell had gotten a lot worse but there were less flies. We uncovered the shoulder and noticed that most maggots had now moved under it. We also collected maggots that day. Two days later, the smell wasn't as strong and there were barely any flies. The shoulder still looked dried up and leather like but you could now see some of the bone. The maggots still remained under the shoulder and that was the last day we saw it.

The results from my developmental data were very consistent with the published data. We searched the maximum and minimum temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit for the dates we observed the lab. Then we found the average of that and turned it into degrees Celsius. Six degrees were subtracted from the degrees afterwards. For the ADD, or accumulated degree day, we added up the temperatures from the previous days for every day. The results were a bit different due to the fact that we didn't record observations every single day but were very close.

It is amazing to see how similar lab observations can be to published data.

Forensic entomology has helped solve many important cases throughout time. Insects used to be an inconvenience to police offices who were examining bodies. They didn't realize how important these insects actually were until later in time. The life of a blowfly is very predictable and can be used to determine a time of death. Every stage of the insect takes a certain amount of time. When a time of death is determined, it becomes easier to place a suspect or victim on the crime scene. Entomology has helped solve famous cases such as the ken and Barbie killers and the Kevin Neal case. One of the most famous entomologists responsible for spreading awareness about the use of bugs in determining a time of death has been Dr. Neal Haskell. He runs a bug school during the  summer where he teaches law enforcement officials from all over the country about insects and how important they can be. The use of forensic entomology has become a very valuable tool for solving crimes.