Effect of body mass and clothing on carrion entomofauna.

Carcass mass largely affects pattern and rate of carrion decomposition. Supposedly, it is similarly important for carrion entomofauna; however, most of its likely effects have not been tested experimentally. Here, simultaneous effects of carcass mass and clothing are analyzed.

Effect of body mass and clothing on decomposition of pig carcasses.

Carcass mass and carcass clothing are factors of potential high forensic importance. In casework, corpses differ in mass and kind or extent of clothing; hence, a question arises whether methods for post-mortem interval estimation should take these differences into account. Unfortunately, effects of carcass mass and clothing on specific processes in decomposition and related entomological phenomena are unclear.

Temperature-dependent appearance of forensically useful flies on carcasses.

Flies are frequently used for postmortem interval (PMI) estimations. These estimates are usually based on the age of larval or pupal specimens. However, the age defines only the minimum PMI.

Insects colonising carcasses in open and forest habitats of Central Europe: search for indicators of corpse relocation.

Several traces may reveal the post-mortem relocation of a corpse. Insects are particularly useful for that purpose. The use of insects for inferring the transfer of a corpse rests on a premise that particular species colonise corpses in different habitats.

A simple computer-assisted quantification of contrast in a fingerprint.

A simple method for quantification of contrast in a fingerprint is proposed. Contrast is defined as the average difference in intensity of pixels between valleys and ridges in a fingerprint. It is quantified from a scanner-acquired image of the fingerprint using a histogram function of Adobe Photoshop.

Temperature-dependent appearance of forensically useful beetles on carcasses.

Estimating the pre-appearance interval (PAI) of carrion insects from temperature is a new and promising improvement of entomological methods for post-mortem interval estimation. In order to use this approach in casework, a taxon should demonstrate a close relationship between PAI and temperature. In this article we test this relationship in selected species of beetles, namely Thanatophilus sinuatus Fabr.