Forensic Entomology—First Swedish Case Studies

In the summer of 1998 a forensic entomology project was carried out at the Unit of Forensic Medicine and the Department of Systematic Zoology at Uppsala University. This was the first forensic entomology project in Sweden. Arthropods were collected from corpses brought to the Unit of Forensic Medicine for autopsy. The arthropods were determined to species and developmental stage. Larvae of the blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy and Lucilia sericata (Meigen), and the beetle (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) Dermestes lardarius L. were recorded. The estimated ambient mean temperatures, development stages of the insects, and literature records of their developmental times were used to extrapolate the dates of death and thereby the post-mortem intervals (PMIs). The PMIs obtained by our data corresponded well with the PMIs obtained by other data.