Revisiting the concept of entomotoxicology

Abstract

Until now, the term entomotoxicology has only been used in medico-legal sciences. However, entomotoxicology as a whole has a much wider scope and forensic entomotoxicology is just one of its branches. Based on the literature a wider definition of the term is presented. Today, we can distinguish two major branches of entomotoxicology : 1) Forensic entomotoxicology , which uses the insects as evidence of the presence of xenobiotics in decomposing tissue during an investigation and 2) Environmental entomotoxicology , which uses the insects as bioindicators of environmental pollution in non-criminal circumstances. While forensic entomotoxicology is a relatively new discipline, research in environmental entomotoxicology began as far back as the 1920s. A review of the work in entomotoxicology from the last 6 years is presented, covering several interesting new trends. This article aims to redefine entomotoxicology, which should increase awareness to bring more collaborations and multidisciplinary between related scientific fields.

Detection of Three Opioids (Morphine, Codeine and Methadone) and Their Metabolites (6-Monoacetylmorphine and 2-Ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine) in Larvae of Lucilia sericata Species by UHPLC-TF-MS and Validation

“…The use of entomotoxicology in connection with court cases has led to the development of a new branch of forensic entomotoxicology in recent decades because of broad scientific interest in this discipline. The main purposes of this discipline include, firstly, the possibility of detecting a variety of xenobiotics; secondly, the study of the influence that drugs have on the growth and development of the studied insect; and finally, the experimentation of different methods and approaches for the detection of xenobiotics [ 25 ].…”

Epiglottis Cartilage, Costal Cartilage, and Intervertebral Disc Cartilage as Alternative Materials in the Postmortem Diagnosis of Methanol Poisoning

“…Therefore, alternative sampling materials are needed. In forensic toxicology, the list of alternative matrices includes oral fluid [ 2 , 3 ], hair [ 4 , 5 ], sweat [ 6 , 7 ], meconium [ 8 , 9 ], breast milk [ 10 , 11 ], vitreous humor [ 12 , 13 ], bile [ 14 , 15 ], and even insects [ 16 , 17 ]. However, the alternative materials present limitations, such as limited xenobiotic accumulation (according to physical–chemical properties), the eventual need for more sensitive analyses, or the inability to correlate xenobiotic concentrations with effects [ 18 ].…”