FE PRESENTAITON #3 INSECTS SECTION

The most common orders of insects found on a corpse are flies and beetles. Forensic entomologists can determine the time of death by studying the life cycle of flies on the corpse. The fly life cycle consists of four stages: egg, maggot, pupa, and fly, which takes about seven and a half days. The maggot stage has three instars, with each instar growing in size. After three days, the fly becomes an adult. The two most common orders of insects found on a corpse are the Diptera flies order and the Collieptera beetles order. Each has a particular number of families that are most commonly found on or inside a corpse. A forensic entomologist can find the PMI by studying the life cycle of the flies present on a corpse. The life cycle of a fly consists of four basic stages, egg, egg, maggot, pupa, and fly, which takes place over the course of about seven and a half days. When a fly is just an egg, it is about 1.2 millimeters long. In 12 hours, the egg will hatch to become a maggot. The maggot stage consists of three instars, which are each separated by 12 hours. In the first instar, the maggot is three millimeters long. It will then grow to be six millimeters long in the second instar. Then in the third instar, it will be 17 millimeters long. After 24 hours, the insect will reach the pre-pupa stage, which is 12 millimeters long. In the next two days, it will shed its pre-pupa skin and shrink to nine millimeters to fit the pupa stage. Lastly, after three days, it will become an adult fly.