The Red Swamp Crayfish Procambarus Clarkii (the Louisiana Crayfish) as a Particular Scavenger on a Human Corpse.
Procambarus clarkii
crayfish
forensic pathology
forensic science
postmortem interval
scavenging
Journal
Journal of forensic sciences
ISSN: 1556-4029
Titre abrégé: J Forensic Sci
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 0375370
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jan 2020
Jan 2020
Historique:
received:
18
04
2019
revised:
10
07
2019
accepted:
11
07
2019
pubmed:
6
8
2019
medline:
16
1
2020
entrez:
6
8
2019
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
An 85-year-old man was found deceased floating in an irrigation ditch 18 days after his disappearance. During crime scene investigation, specimens of the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii were found in proximity of the body. The feeding activity of these nonendemic crayfishes contributed to the formation of specific injuries on the body and in the production of a large substance defects inside the corpse. The aim of this paper was to illustrate the scavenging activity of P. clarkii on a human body and highlight the potential postmortem artefacts caused by this species. This is the first report on a real case of postmortem injuries produced by P. clarkii crayfishes on a submerged human body. So far, crustaceans are not considered useful for the estimation of the minimum postmortem interval. However, the important modifications on the corpses deriving from the activity of these animals should be kept in consideration.
Identifiants
pubmed: 31381141
doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14145
doi:
Types de publication
Case Reports
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
323-326Informations de copyright
© 2019 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
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