LECTURE 8: FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGY & BOTANY // CHAPTER 21 FIREARMS

Question 1

Why insects

Answer 1

• Insects are present in every environment
• Insects eat basically everything and in the various stages of life insects have different diets
• Insects share life environment and food with humans
• Insects are interested in humans and their products for food/shelter
• Insects are heterothermic = body temperature varies with environmental temperature, therefore their life cycle can be longer (in cold environment) or shorter (in warm environment)
• Avoid insects? Good luck!
• Food source + optimal temperatures = GROWTH & REPRODUCTION

Question 2

RIGOR MORTIS “death stiffness”

Answer 2

 Stiffness of muscles due to lactic acid
 Starts around 2-4 hours after death
 Reaches maximum stiffness 8-12 hours after death
 Begins to fade 18-24 hours after death
 Disappears 24-30 hours after death

Question 3

LIVOR MORTIS “death color”

Answer 3

 Settling of blood in body due to gravity
 Develops 2-4 hours after death occurs
 Non-fixed (blanchable) 8-12 hours after death
 Fixed (non-blanchable) >8-12 hours after death

Question 4

ALGOR MORTIS “death heat”

Answer 4

 Post Mortem cooling of the body((about 1°C/h)
 Multiple variable on algor mortis are:
 Body dimensions
 Posture
 Clothing
 Ambient Temperature
 Air movement
 Tends to level off the environmental temperature

Question 5

Necrophagous fauna

Answer 5

• Macrofauna = “big animals” – strictly dependent on biogeography
• Microfauna = “small animals” and other oganisms – generally present, insects (blowflies) are the majority in terms of species-type and number

Question 6

Myasis =

Answer 6

Parasitic infestation of the body of a live mammal by fly larvae (maggots) that grow inside the host while feeding on its tissue. Although flies are most commonly
attracted to open wounds and urine- or feces-soaked fur, some species can create an
infestation event on unbroken skin as vector agents for their parasitic larvae

Question 7

Type of firearms

Answer 7

1. Handguns
   • Revolvers - feeds ammunition into the firing chamber by means of a revolving cylinder, cylinder can swing out to the side or be hinged to the frame and released by a latch or pin for loading and unloading, single-action revolver requires that the hammer be cocked each time it is fired, double action revolver can be cocked by hand or by pulling of the trigger
   • Pistols - semi automatic pistol feeds ammunition by means of a spring loaded vertical magazine, although term automatic is applied to magazines it is not actually automatic as it cannot continuously fire
2. Shoulder firearms
   • Rifles - designed to be fired from the shoulder with two hands, maybe single shot (loaded, the cartridge extracted and then reloaded) repeating (fire bullet with each pull of trigger but expended cartridge must be expelled) semiautomatic (use the energy of the fired ammunition to expel anti cartridge cock the firing mechanism and reload a live round) or automatic (pull the trigger, firearm will fire ammunition continuously until all the ammunition is gone)
3. Shotguns
   • Machine guns - fully automatic and is therefore fed ammunition from I high capacity belt or box, meant to be fired from a tripod or other mounted position
   • Submachine guns - is a machine gun meant to be fired well held in the hands