Metrological framework for selecting morphological characters to identify species and estimate developmental maturity of forensically significant insect specimens

Midgley, John M; Villet, Martin H

Title: Metrological framework for selecting morphological characters to identify species and estimate developmental maturity of forensically significant insect specimens
Creator: Midgley, John M
Creator: Villet, Martin H
Subject: To be catalogued
Date Issued: 2021
Date: 2021
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440784
Identifier: vital:73813
Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2020.1794347
Description: Accurate age estimates of immature necrophagous insects associated with a human or animal body can provide evidence of how long the body has been dead. These estimates are based on species-specific details of the insects’ aging processes, and therefore require accurate species identification and developmental stage estimation. Many professionals who produce or use identified organisms as forensic evidence have little training in taxonomy or metrology, and appreciate the availability of formalized principles and standards for biological identification. Taxonomic identifications are usually most readily and economically made using categorical and qualitative morphological characters, but it may be necessary to use less convenient and potentially more ambiguous characters that are continuous and quantitative if two candidate species are closely related, or if identifying developmental stages within a species. Characters should be selected by criteria such as taxonomic specificity and metrological repeatability and relative error. We propose such a hierarchical framework, critique various measurements of immature insects, and suggest some standard approaches to determine the reliability of organismal identifications and measurements in estimating postmortem intervals. Relevant criteria for good characters include high repeatability (including low scope for ambiguity or parallax effects), pronounced discreteness, and small relative error in measurements. These same principles apply to individuation of unique objects in general.
Format: 8 pages
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: Forensic Sciences Research
Relation: Midgley, J.M. and Villet, M.H., 2021. Metrological framework for selecting morphological characters to identify species and estimate developmental maturity of forensically significant insect specimens. Forensic Sciences Research, 6(1), pp.75-83
Relation: Forensic Sciences Research volume 6 number 1 75 83 2021 2471-1411
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Oxford Academic Journals Open Access Policy Statement (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access)

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Villet, Martin Herrer (Prof)

SDG 15. Life On Land

RU Department of Zoology and Entomology

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