Forensic Entomology Biology and Systematics

Question: Discuss about the Forensic Entomology for Biology and Systematics. Answer: Introduction: One of the highly abundant and diverse group that is present in every corner of the globe is the group of insect. They only absent in certain extreme condition like the North Pole, South Pole, ocean areas and certain mountain tops which are distant from the coast. Among the animal and plant species known three quarter portion is comprised insect, it is around 80 percent of the animal species (Patan et al., 2014). There are more than one million of species of insect present. The insect also have fundamental role in the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. Both the food chain and the food web are dominated by the volume and number of the insect present. Though this group shows different astonishing diversity of the niches, habitats, behaviors and life styles (Morales et al., 2016). The shape of the body of the insect is almost constant and their body structure can be described by the conserved parts of the body of the insect. The size of the insect has a significant variation. The length may range from 0.2-300 mm. The most distinguishable characteristic of the insect body is the segmentation of the body which includes the three parts head, thorax and abdomen (Chen et al., 2014). The recent studies shows that there are 4-6 million of insect species present in the world. These groups of organisms are successful due to the extreme richness, high biomass and abundance. The fundamental reason behind this is the metameric segmentation of the body of the insect and their appendixes. The tracheal system allows the insects to grow much more larger than that permissible by the diffusion alone (Laidlaw, 2014). At around 800000 times more oxygen is provided by the trachea which the process of simple diffusion cannot provide. The small size of the insects is very advantageous because it allows shorter generation time. Hence, in a very short period several generations can be executed. This makes the insects more prone to the process of mutation which ultimately produces more phenotypic and genotypic variation. Furthermore this supports the insects to inhabit in variety of microhabitats such as plant, soil, and animals. Consequently, the availability of the niches have increased. The huge array of the interaction based on the evolution among the insect and plants and to the other organisms, which contributes to the formation of the great diversification. The insects efficiency of perceiving the environment is more than any other group of the terrestrial invertebrates (Huang et al., 2013). This function is due to sophisticated sensory and neuromotor systems in insects. The light and resistant e xoskeleton of the insect makes the flight possible, which enhances their mobility for a more efficient search of new environments and food in different types of habitats . Furthermore, it assists the insects to escape from flightless predators, allows migration and egg dispersal, and also assist the search for mates. The place of the insects in the general Zoological Classification Animalia The multicellular motile organisms, responsive to the external environment and feeding by consuming other organisms or parts of them, digesting that food in an internal chamber; undergoing blastula embryonic development. Arthropoda All members of Animalia having jointed external skeletal cuticle and jointed locomotory legs. Insecta All members of the Arthropoda having (in general terms) three functional body regions, 2 pairs of wings and three pairs of jointed locomotory legs. Diptera All members of Insecta having only the front pair of wings functional as flight appendages, having the hind pair reduced to balancing-sensory organs called halteres. Larvae soft bodied. Calliphoridae Those Diptera having: a spoon-shaped lower calypter hypopleural setae present post-humeral seta placed lower relative to the horizontal plane than the per-suturalseta Calliphora those Calliphoridae having: * lower part of parafacial without long setae * stem vein not setulose on upper surface (i.e. it is bare) * lower calypter with fine setulae on upper surface * costa bare on under surface beyond the junction with R1 3 post-suturalacrostichal setae, 1 pre-sutural +2 post-sutural intra-alar setae first flagellomere2 times as long as pedicel costa setulose on under surface from base to junction with R1 vicina those members ofCalliphorahaving: both calypters dark brown, at most with white margin a yellow-brown basi-costa orange anterior spiracle anterior two-thirds of gena orange setulae of gena all black The insect have witnessed the rise and the falloff the dinosaurs. They have maintained their position in the ecological pre-eminence for over 400 million years and survived the four major cataclysms which have caused planet-wide extinctions (Dobzhansky, 2013).The insect also thrive continuously despite of the best efforts of eradication done by the humans. The unique combination of the characteristic which as a whole have given the insect the advantage and ability to survive several unusual environmental conditions are as follows: Factors Effects EXTERNAL EXOSKELETON or CUTICLE The waterproof and Tough cuticle assists in protecting the insects from dehydration and the predators. RAPID REPRODUCTION The Insects have a very high evolving rate and they also possess the ability to make quick adaptation in respect to the changing condition of the environment. FLIGHT The flight helps the insect to escape from the enemiesand predator; it also assists the insect in finding food source and new habitat rapidly, and in establishing new colonies. WING FOLDING PROTECTION The Insects can fold their wings back along their bodies protect it under hard covering known as elytra. This process has helped them to use microhabitats of varied range like the crevices and cracks in dead wood, under stones, or inside leaf litter. This also meansthat the insectcould hide from predators by the help of reduced surface area (Lowe et al., 2013). INSULATED CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM The central nervous system insulation allows nerves to work proficiently. It permits the existence of the insect in hot or dry places. SIZE Small size permits adaptation to range of microhabitats for example a tree has provision for inhabiting variety of insect species. SHORT LIFE CYCLE This characteristic of the insect allows execution of new generations within a specific time for the evolution and selection to take place. VARIATION IN THE LIFE STYLE OF DIFFERENT STAGES Variation in different stages of life cycle of an insect (e.g. caterpillar to butterfly) decreases competition for resources within the species (Pieterse et al., 2012). SENSORY SOPHISTICATION The sensory capability of insect is superior to most other organisms. EVOLUTIONARY INTERACTIONS The interactions with other organisms leads to greater speciation and specialization and is also called as co-evolution ADAPTATION OF APPENDAGES Appendages such as wings, mouthparts and legs have become extremely specialized over time. Reference Chen, Y., Why, A., Batista, G., Mafra-Neto, A., Keogh, E. (2014).Flying insect classification with inexpensive sensors.Journal of insect behavior, 27(5), 657-677. Dobzhansky, T. (2013). Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. The american biology teacher, 75(2), 87-91. Huang, M., Wan, X., Zhang, M., Zhu, Q. (2013). 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