Entomological Succession; Forensic Entomology; Entomotoxicology; Intoxication; Pesticide; Biospectroscopy.
Entomotoxicology studies the effect and detection of chemical substances in scavenger insects from crime scenes, being crucial for the correct estimation of the interval and causes death of decaying carcasses and cadavers. Among substances of forensic importance, Terbufos (Organophosphate) is frequently associated with cases of intoxication in Brazil and worldwide. Thus, this work aims to understand the effect of Terbufos: i. in the carrion decomposition and assemblage of sarcosaprophagous dipterans associated with carcasses intoxicated with different doses of the compound; ii. in the carcass colonization process and its implications for the calculation of the postmortem interval (PMI); iii. in the post-feeding larval dispersal behavior of scavengers and its implications as entomological evidence, as well as iv. the use of medium infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) to detect Terbufos in larvae and puparium from intoxicated rats. For this, female Wistar rats received, via gavage, 200uL of Terbufos (5mg/kg, 10mg/kg or 20mg/kg) or distilled water (control) and, after 30 minutes, were euthanized and distributed in suspended traps to decompose into environmental conditions. The decomposition was monitored daily, with photographic record and collection of visiting and colonizing dipterofauna, until the dry phase. The dispersing larvae were also used for behavior analysis and spectra collection. The data collected showed that Terbufos accelerates the decomposition of carcasses intoxicated with 10mg/kg in 24h, and changes the composition and structure of the visiting and colonizing dipterofauna, and the behavior of immature intoxicated with high doses of Terbufos. In addition, biospectroscopy has been shown to be a promising tool for toxicological analysis of intoxicated insects. Through a multidisciplinary approach, this work strengthens the importance of entomotoxicological studies to evaluate entomological evidence at crime scenes and can assist in investigative processes with suspected organophosphate poisoning.