A review of Forensic Entomology in the Pacific United States

Abstract

AbstractThe field of forensic entomology has grown exponentially within the last 50 years. While research in this discipline is conducted globally, the United States in particular has produced a significant amount of work relevant to forensic entomology. The Pacific region of the United States, characterized to include Hawai'i, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and the islands of American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, has produced a broad array of such studies. Works of interest include surveys of forensically important insects, studies on carrion decomposition and insect succession, studies on the developmental rate of sarcosaprophagous insects, molecular studies to detect differences between geographically distant populations of the same species, studies on the microbial makeup of carrion and carrion‐feeding insects, entomotoxicological research, decomposition communities in aquatic environments, and case reports detailing insects recovered from death investigations as well as myiasis of livestock and humans. This review will outline research that originates from each of the aforementioned regions and review the results, while identifying knowledge gaps, and providing recommended areas of improvement to further increase diversity of forensic entomology research in the Pacific region.This article is categorized under: Forensic Anthropology > Time Since Death Estimation Forensic Biology > Forensic Entomology