A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid

Post mortem interval can be estimated based on the succession pattern of forensically important insects. There are various factors that may influence insect succession and decomposition process. One of the factor is the presence of chemical on dead body compound that may interfere with the insect co...

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Main Author:	Mohd Khalil, Jusoh
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2019
Subjects:	RA Public aspects of medicine
Online Access:	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27590/2/Mohd%20Khalil.pdf
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spelling	my-unimas-ir.275902023-03-21T08:40:25Z A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid 2019-10-24 Mohd Khalil, Jusoh RA Public aspects of medicine Post mortem interval can be estimated based on the succession pattern of forensically important insects. There are various factors that may influence insect succession and decomposition process. One of the factor is the presence of chemical on dead body compound that may interfere with the insect colonisation thus under-determined the post mortem interval. This study was to look into the effect of formic acid treated-rabbit carcasses on the decomposition process and the succession pattern of the necrophagous insect at the Endap oil palm plantation, Samarahan, Sarawak. The study was carried out in three trials of experiment. Each trial consists of one untreated rabbit carcasses (control) and two rabbit carcasses poured with formic acid. The control rabbit carcasses and treatment 1 (T1) rabbit carcasses were put in an open area while treatment 2 (T2) rabbit carcasses were put in shaded area. The decomposition process and insect succession pattern of different treatment on rabbit carcasses were recorded and compared in all three trials of experiment. From this study, a total of 1,163 of insects were collected from three trials of experiment conducted in year 2016. A total of three orders namely Diptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were collected. There were four families identified in order of Diptera, while the insects under the order of Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were unidentified. The most predominant species collected at the study site is a dipteran flies, Chrysomya rufifacies (33.01%) and followed by Hemipyrellia ligurriens (32.49%). The treated and untreated carcasses have shown five stages of decomposition process; fresh, bloated, active decay, advanced decay and dry remain. The decomposition of formic acid treated rabbit carcasses took around 13 to 14 days to complete compared to the untreated carcasses which only took 7 days to complete. From the field observation, the insects’ arrival was delayed for 24 hours for treated carcasses and there were some larvae that did not develop into adult and died on the carcasses. The mean ambient temperature was ranged from 24.5 to 30.4 ⁰C, with 83-85% of relative humidity. Throughout this study the highest rainfall recorded was 67.6 mm. The environment parameters did not influence the insect succession pattern of the untreated and treated rabbit carcasses. To conclude, the formic acid treated on the carcasses has interfered with the insect arrival time and period of decomposition process. The information on the effect of formic acid on carcasses may assists forensic entomologist to accurately estimate the post mortem interval time in the future where formic acid is involved. Keywords: Forensic entomology, Chrysomya rufifacies, Hemipyrellia ligurriens, decomposition, insect succession, formic acid Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2019-10 Thesis http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27590/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27590/2/Mohd%20Khalil.pdf text en validuser masters Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
collection	UNIMAS Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	RA Public aspects of medicine
spellingShingle	RA Public aspects of medicine Mohd Khalil, Jusoh A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid
description	Post mortem interval can be estimated based on the succession pattern of forensically important insects. There are various factors that may influence insect succession and decomposition process. One of the factor is the presence of chemical on dead body compound that may interfere with the insect colonisation thus under-determined the post mortem interval. This study was to look into the effect of formic acid treated-rabbit carcasses on the decomposition process and the succession pattern of the necrophagous insect at the Endap oil palm plantation, Samarahan, Sarawak. The study was carried out in three trials of experiment. Each trial consists of one untreated rabbit carcasses (control) and two rabbit carcasses poured with formic acid. The control rabbit carcasses and treatment 1 (T1) rabbit carcasses were put in an open area while treatment 2 (T2) rabbit carcasses were put in shaded area. The decomposition process and insect succession pattern of different treatment on rabbit carcasses were recorded and compared in all three trials of experiment. From this study, a total of 1,163 of insects were collected from three trials of experiment conducted in year 2016. A total of three orders namely Diptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were collected. There were four families identified in order of Diptera, while the insects under the order of Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were unidentified. The most predominant species collected at the study site is a dipteran flies, Chrysomya rufifacies (33.01%) and followed by Hemipyrellia ligurriens (32.49%). The treated and untreated carcasses have shown five stages of decomposition process; fresh, bloated, active decay, advanced decay and dry remain. The decomposition of formic acid treated rabbit carcasses took around 13 to 14 days to complete compared to the untreated carcasses which only took 7 days to complete. From the field observation, the insects’ arrival was delayed for 24 hours for treated carcasses and there were some larvae that did not develop into adult and died on the carcasses. The mean ambient temperature was ranged from 24.5 to 30.4 ⁰C, with 83-85% of relative humidity. Throughout this study the highest rainfall recorded was 67.6 mm. The environment parameters did not influence the insect succession pattern of the untreated and treated rabbit carcasses. To conclude, the formic acid treated on the carcasses has interfered with the insect arrival time and period of decomposition process. The information on the effect of formic acid on carcasses may assists forensic entomologist to accurately estimate the post mortem interval time in the future where formic acid is involved. Keywords: Forensic entomology, Chrysomya rufifacies, Hemipyrellia ligurriens, decomposition, insect succession, formic acid
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Master's degree
author	Mohd Khalil, Jusoh
author_facet	Mohd Khalil, Jusoh
author_sort	Mohd Khalil, Jusoh
title	A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid
title_short	A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid
title_full	A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid
title_fullStr	A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid
title_full_unstemmed	A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid
title_sort	study on forensically important insects and the influence of environment factors on rabbit carcasses treated with formic acid
granting_institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
granting_department	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
publishDate	2019
url	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27590/2/Mohd%20Khalil.pdf
_version_	1783728348643459072

A Study on Forensically Important Insects and the Influence of Environment Factors on Rabbit Carcasses Treated with Formic Acid

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