Forensic entomology: application, education and research in Western Australia

Abstract

Forensic entomology as a science and a tool for investigation has had slow beginnings in Australia. A number of small animal decomposition trials have been recorded in the literature but mostly from an ecological rather than a forensic entomology perspective. In the last 20 years, a number of more forensically orientated field trials on small pigs and some fly developmental trials in the laboratory have been conducted but lack any replication. The following article was presented at an international seminar to detail the current research in forensic entomology, the applications of forensic entomology in scene of crime (SOC) and homicide investigations and the education of police and judiciary in the discipline of forensic entomology in Western Australia over the last 10 years.