#大有学问 #
Main contributor: Xia Xiaoting; Consultant: Forensic Tip
This article is about 1700 words and the reading time is about 5 minutes
Murder scene in the wild grove.
The medical examiner was conducting an autopsy, and as he prepared to turn over the deceased, a very "spectacular" and frightening scene appeared!
From under the corpse, a large patch of insects crawled out - they were originally eating the carrion of the corpse, and even buried part of the carrion in balls.
Because of the detection of the appearance of humans, a drama of the retreat of the insect army began...
When it comes to bugs on corpses, everyone's first reaction may be flies and maggots. In fact, there are many more bugs that often deal with corpses.
Hello everyone, I'm Xia Xiaoting.
Today's [forensic doctor], let me take you to understand a bug that has existed hundreds of millions of years ago. Their relationship with corpses is very deep, but not many people know about them.
This bug is called "funeral beetle", also known as "burial beetle", and is just a family of insects.
Chinese burial armor looks like this.
Just looking at the name, everyone may think of "burial" and "burial" and other funeral matters, and the name of the funeral armor is indeed related to these.
Some types of burial armor roll the carrion on the corpse into balls and bury it in the underground nest like a burial, and if it encounters the corpse of a smaller creature (such as a bird), the funeral armor may also bury the corpse as a whole. It is this particular habit that makes them very special. They do this not out of good intentions, but mainly to reproduce from carrion.
The carrion rolled into balls by the funeral armor has been coated with a special secretion with antiseptic effect, and the funeral armor only needs to lay eggs on it, waiting for the larvae to hatch, and then there is no need for rations.
This habit sounds quite similar to Shi Shell Lang.
Like many insects, funeral nails go through four stages of development, namely eggs, larvae (3 instars), pupae, and adults. Adults are usually 1 to 2 cm long, and some species can reach up to 4 cm in length.
Dorsal view of the larvae of the funerary family.
There are many different genera in the funerary nail family, some of which have unique patterns and bright colors, and are very beautiful. Some insect lovers also go to the wild to find burial armor for collection and observation.
However, it is not necessarily something to be happy for forensic doctors to encounter them at work.
Funerary armor has a wide range of survival. In addition to not surviving in the ocean, streams, etc., they can be found in many places on land. However, burial armor prefers to the wild, they are highly alert, and will retreat whenever humans get close. As we said at the beginning of the article ...
It's just that such a picture is difficult to see in the city.
That experience of "forensic watching the funeral armor leave in a mighty way" is the real memory of the main author of the small station! (Tooth Tip has also written a detailed introduction to "guests on the corpse", which can be seen at the end of the article, timid or densely phobia people please be cautious!) ）
As a grassroots forensic doctor, he used to be shocked, of course, he is now familiar with such a scene.
The scene after the adult flees... Source: Forensic tip of teeth
And when I listened to him, I felt my head, skin, hair, and numbness!
Until now, as long as I go to my brain to make up that picture, I still feel goosebumps all over my body...
In general, funeral armor that voluntarily evacuated the scene will be far away and will no longer have any contact with the medical examiner.
However, not all bugs are as "well-behaved and sensible" as funeral armor.
These insects that feed on corpses during the larval stage are called "necrophilic insects". In addition to the funeral armor just mentioned, the same is true for some flies.
The larvae left by fly insects on the corpse usually do not leave voluntarily, so on some decaying corpses, there are often countless maggots constantly wriggling.
They may even follow people's shoes, pants... Climb up slowly.
At the scene where the body is found, these maggots will definitely have an impact on the work of the forensic doctor, what should be done in this situation?
Then it can only be... Get started.
The medical examiner said that when he encountered this situation, he wore gloves to pick up the writhing maggots to the ground. If the maggots are about to climb up along the gloves, shake their hands, shake off the maggots and continue to pull.
When the autopsy is finished and the body is pulled to the dissection room, the maggots that have not been pulled off will appear on the dissection table with the corpse.
New dissection table. Source: Forensic Qin Ming popular science video
Old Qin and Dabao also encountered similar suffocation scenes.
At that time, they were in the funeral home, scooping out the maggots spoon by spoon, and then getting them into the incineration pile and burning them. Thinking back to the maggots in the bowl, several people did not want to see rice for days.
Forensic Qin Ming's book in the 9 major destruction of food moments, the number one "rice" terrier, this is how it came.
When it comes to insects on these corpses, many people may feel that they can't eat again...
But it has to be said that these little creatures can really help forensic doctors solve cases.
For example, Lao Qin once mentioned in the book that the development of maggots can be used to infer the approximate time of death of the deceased.
As a fan of Old Qin's books, I also have a certain understanding of the work of forensic medicine. But after combing through this issue today, I have a deeper understanding of the hard work and difficulties of forensic work.
Old Qin at work.
In addition to facing the visual and olfactory impact of the scene, forensic doctors also have to overcome many challenges that ordinary people cannot imagine and maintain rational thinking, which really requires strong psychological endurance and ability to withstand pressure.
Just through the text description and the display of some pictures, we felt unbearable, and this is completely incomparable to the scene they really faced.
At this moment, I feel sincere admiration for the police, especially the medical examiner.
They deserve our applause and deserve our applause.
Interactive topic: Have you ever seen funeral armor? Do you know any other insects or animals that may appear on corpses?
Poke the blue word to see more forensic science
1. The medical examiner says | The bugs that make the scalp numb turned out to be the key to solving this headless case
2. Hangzhou wife murder case: execution! 38 suction trucks, how did the medical examiner find the shredded body pieces?
Author: Xia Xiaoting; Consultants: pointed teeth; Quality inspection: sky; Editor: Lelouch / CC
Unless otherwise specified, all other pictures are derived from reference materials; Source of the title picture: "Imitator" stills. Douban movie
Resources:
1. Chinese funeral armor. JI Yun. China Forestry Publishing House
2. Forensic entomology. People's Medical Publishing House
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Applause to the police and forensics!
This article is the original content of the [Forensic Qin Ming] account, and it is forbidden to reprint it arbitrarily without the authorization of the account.