Introduction:
ntomotoxicology is a new field of medico-legal forensic
entomology and it is used to analyze the toxins from
arthropods that feed on the carrion. With the help of
collected arthropods it can be determined whether the toxin was
present in the body at the time of death. This particular branch
involves the utilization of entomological specimens found at a
scene in order to test for different drugs that may have possibly
played a role in the death of the victim. According to Hall[10] the
scope and applications of Medico criminal forensic entomology is
such broad as forensic entomologist can use arthropod populations
associated with a decedent in a number of ways including cause
and manner of death (includes detection of drugs/toxins),
determination of death location, placement of body after death, and
identification of wound sites. It is recorded in the history of
entomotoxicology that the first identification has been done on
drug phenobarbital in fly larvae found on a skeletonized corpse.
Beyer et. al., and entomotoxicology has become an established
approach and numerous experiments have been carried out by
different groups to detect drugs in larvae, pupae, and puparial
cases[1]. Bourel et al., found that morphine can cause an
underestimation of the PMI in Lucilia sericata (Meigen) by 24
hours[2]. Hédouin et al., established concentrations of morphine in
rabbits as an animal model before rearing larvae on tissues. During
various studies it is concluded that the varying developmental rates
of different insect species induced by distinct types of drugs used in
estimation of post mortem intervals. The drug Morphine is a potent
opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the
prototypical opioid and it is also
concluded that morphine
extraction in necrophagous
insects’ remains for determining
ante-mortem opiate intoxication
consequently can serve as
alternative specimens for
toxicological analysis when
suitable tissues are not available.
From the forgoing account, it
becomes evident that forensic
entomotoxicology is also a viable
discipline having lot of scope of
work not only in India but in the
whole world. So the present study
concentrates on the correlation
between the quantity of drug
morphine sulfate present in the
samples of larvae, pupae and
puparial cases and furthermore
the effect of morphine sulfate has
also been investigated on the
development rate of Chrysomya
megacephala (Fabricius) on dead
Sus scrofa Linnaeus[11].