HORTICULTURE

Detailed explanation-1: -The first type of insect to arrive at a dead body is usually a blowfly (Calliphoridae), attracted by body fluids and gases. It lays its eggs within two days after death, so its stage of development-egg, larval stages, prepupal or pupal stage, adulthood-will suggest how long the corpse has been lying undetected.

Detailed explanation-2: -Flies, maggots, and others flock to the decaying flesh within minutes and begin to lay eggs. According to the Nature Education Knowledge Project, “Carrion flies locate dead animals through a keen sense of smell; they can detect minute traces of decomposition odor in air currents.”

Detailed explanation-3: -Insects colonize remains in a specific pattern, usually laying eggs first in the facial orifices, unless there are wounds, in which case they will colonize these first, then proceed down the body. If the maggot activity is centred away from the natural orifices, then it is likely that this is the site of a wound.

Detailed explanation-4: -Blow flies and flesh flies are the most useful crime scene insects for determining the postmortem interval, or time of death. Through laboratory studies, scientists have established the developmental rates of necrophagous species, based on constant temperatures in a laboratory environment.