PICTORIAL KEY TO RECOGNIZE

FORENSICALLY RELEVANT INVERTEBRATE(FOR DUMMIES)

V 1.0.1

COMPILED BY FRANCESCO PORCELLI & DANIELE CORNARADISSPA - UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI BARI ALDO MORO ENTOMOLOGIA & ZOOLOGIA

WWW.GIEFITALIA.ORG - INFO@GIEFITALIA.ORG

1. a. Legs present.......................... 2

b. Legs absent........................... 9

2. a. Three pairs of legs............... 15b. More than three pairs of leg... 3

3. a. Four pairs of segmented legs 4b. More than four pairs of segmented legs.......................... 6

4. a. Abdomen tapering into a tail, ending into a sting: arrow................ ...............................Scorpions (c.p.7)

b. No tapering abdomen, no sting............................................ 5

5. a. Larger than 5 mm, with a strong c a r a p a c e o r a n a b d o m i n a l constriction between cephalotorax and abdomen: arrow...................... 23

b. Smaller than 5 mm, with no ab-dominal constriction .... Mites(c.p.6)

6. a. 5-7 pairs of legs with 2 pairs of antennas: arrows......... A c q u a t i c crustaceans (Gammarus, Talitrus & Nyphargus) (c.p.9)

b. More than 5-7 pairs of legs evenly distributed over many (>3) body segments............................ 7

7. a. Body stout, oval, protected by segmented carapace, approximately 2 - 3 t i m e s l o n g e r t h a n wide........................... Isopoda (c.p.9)

b. Segmented, elongated body, more than four times longer than wide............................................. 8

8. a. One pair of legs for each segment of the body, cerci (arrow) well developed...........................................Chilopoda (Centipedes) (c.p.5)

b. 2 pairs of legs for each segment,cerci absent.................... .....Diplopoda (Millepedes) (c.p.5)

9. a. Shell present........ Snails (c.p.8)

b. Shell absent........................... 10

10. a. Not sclerotized cuticle.... 11b. Sclerotized cuticle............ 14

11. a. Segmented body............ 12b. No segmented body, with four tentacles (arrows) in head region.....................Slug (c.p.8)

12. a. Presence of a long breathing tube at the posterior end of the body: arrow................ .............Diptera Syrphidae (c.p.3)

b. No breathing tube............ 13

13. a. Sclerotized and prominent head capsule: arrow ....Diptera: Stratiomyidae,.............................. Trichoceridae (c.p.3)

b. No head capsule, larvae generally whitish (maggot) ......Diptera: Muscidae, Cal l iphor idae, Sarcophagidae, Piophilidae, Fannidae, Phoridae (c.p.3)

14. a. Sclerotized barrel, from cream coloured in the early hours of pupation, to brown or black ......Diptera puparium (c.p.2)

b. Withy-cream/yellowish eggs, laid in clusters, each element 3-5 millimetres long, slightly arched, about 5 times longer than wide....... Diptera egg (c.p.4)

15. a. Exposed wings...................... 16b. Hidden wings (elytra?) or wingless.................................................... 18

16. a. Scaled wings (arrows)...Lepidoptera................(butterflies and moths) (c.p.1)

b. Membranous wings, scaleless and with visible veins.................. 17

17. a. One pair forewings (hind wings transformed in halters) .......................................................Diptera (flies) (c.p.1)

b. 2 pairs of wings (arrows)........................... Hymenoptera (wasps) (c.p.1)

18. a. Three pairs of jointed legs; other segments membranous with or without prolegs.............................. 19

b. Three pairs of jointed legs; o ther segments sc lerot ized without prolegs.......................... 20

19. a. Only three pairs of thoracic legs: arrows...... beetle larvae (c.p.3)

b. Three pairs of thoracic legs and prolegs (arrows) on the other body segments:.......... caterpillars (c.p.3)

20. a. Cerci: arrows on po-sterior region of the body ..... 21

b. No cerci......................... 22

21. a. Posterior, linear and segmented cerci: arrow...................Blattodea (cockroaches) (c.p.1)

b. Hard posterior cerci, not seg-mented and clamp shaped: arrow............Dermaptera (earwigs) (c.p.1)

22. a. Sclerotized fore wings (elytra) generally covering the abdomen................... Coleoptera (beetles) (c.p.1)

b. Not so, with a stalk (petiolum: arrow) connecting thorax and abdomen............................................Hym. Formicidae (ants) (c.p.1)

23. a. With carapace, usually found near of watercourses and dump areas.......................... Crabs (c.p.9)

b. No hard carapace, but adomi-nal constriction: arrow................................................ Spiders (c.p.7)

GULLAN, P.J., CRANSTON, P.S. 2010 - The Insects An Outline of Entomology, Fourth Edition. Wiley-Backwell, 565 pp.

INTRONA F., CAMPOBASSO C.P. 1998 - Entomologia forense, il ruolo dei ditteri nelle indagini medico-legali. Essebiemme editore, 191pp.

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MCALPINE J.F., PETERSON B.V., SHEWELL G.E., TESKEY H.J., VOCKEROTH J.R., WOOD D.M. (Coord.) 1987 - Manual of Nearctic Diptera 2. Research Branch Agriculture Canada Monograph 28, VI+657 pp.

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USEFUL REFERENCES AMENDT J., CAMPOBASSO C.P., GAUDRY E., REITER C., LEBLANC H.N.,

HALL M.J.R. 2007 - Best practice in forensic entomology - standards and guidelines. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 121: 90-104.

BORKENT A., MCALPINE J.F., WOOD D.M., Woodley N.E. 1989 - Manual of Nearctic Diptera 3. Research Branch Agriculture Canada Monograph 32, VI+249 pp.

BRUSCA R.C., BRUSCA G.J. 2002 - Invertrebrates Second Edition. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, 936 pp.

CHAPMAN R.F. 1998 - The Insects Structure and Function 4th edition. Cambridge University Press, 770 pp.

CHINERY M., 2007 - Domino Guide to the insects of Britain and western Europe. A&C Black London, 320 pp.

GIBB J.T., OSETO C.Y. 2006 - Arthropod collection and identification, field and laboratory techniques. Elsevier, 312 pp.

GOHRAM J.R. 1987 - Insects and mites in food, an illustrated key . USDA handbook n. 655, 767 pp.

GlossaryAbdomen: the third (posterior) major division (tagma) of an insect body.Antenna (pl. antennae) Paired, segmented, sensory appendages, lying usually anterodorsally, on the head derived from the second head segment.Arthropods: Phylum belonging to the kingdom Animalia, composed by the classes of Insects, Spiders, Miriapoda and Crustacea. Common features are the exoskeleton covering the body, the body divided in segments and the jointed appendices.Body of insects: it's divided into three region: head or cephalic capsule, thorax and abdomen. Carapace: strongly sclerotized region of the exoskeleton.Cercus (pl. cerci): one of a pair of appendages originating from abdominal segment 11 but usually visible as if on segment 10.

Cuticle (adj. cuticular): the external skeletal structure, secreted by the epidermis, composed of chitin and protein comprising several differentiated layers.Elytron (pl. elytra) The modified, hardened, fore wing of a beetle that protects the hind wing.Exoskeleton: the external, hardened, cuticular skeleton to which muscles are attached internally.Head: the anterior of the three major divisions (tagmata) of an insect body. Larva (pl. larvae): An immature insect emerged from an egg, often restricted to insects in which there is complete metamorphosis (holometaboly), but sometimes used for any immature insect that differs strongly from its adultLeg: jointed appendix that allows movement. Insects have three pairs of legs, divided in seven articles: coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, tarsus e pretarsus. Metamorphosis: the relatively abrupt change in body form between the end of immature development and the onset of the imaginal (adult) phase.Holometaboly: post-embryonic development of superior insects (Diptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera), divided in four key stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult.Petiole: the slender or narrow tubular segment between the Thorax and Abdomen. One or two-segmented in ants.Phylum: in biological terminology, the continuous succession of living forms, morfologically different but belonging from the same ancestor. In zoology, the systematic category between the kingdom and the class.Proleg: an unsegmented leg of a larva.Pupa (adj. pupal): the inactive stage between the larva and adult in holometabolous insects; also called chrysalis in butterflies.Puparium: the hardened skin of the final-instar larva (“higher” Diptera, Strepsiptera), in which the pupa forms.Sclerification: a process hardens the cuticle, creating chemical links between protein molecules. Sclerotized: subject to sclerification.Taxon (pl. Taxa): a taxonomic unit (species, Genus, Family, Phylum, etc.).Taxonomy (adj. taxonomic): the theory and practice of describing, naming, and classifying organisms.Thorax: the middle of the three major divisions (tagma) of the body, including prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax, with three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings.Wings: the tergo-pleural expansion localized on the thorax,, that allow the insect to fly.