Reference Succession Series
Definition
A documented record of which species colonise carcasses in a given region and season, in what order, and for roughly how long. Built from experimental carrion studies or well-characterised casework; the backbone of any successional PMI analysis.
- Records
- Colonising species order and approximate duration by region and season
- Built from
- Experimental carrion studies or characterised casework
- Application
- Successional method of PMI estimation
Common questions
Why can't a reference succession series from one region be applied directly in another?+
Insect colonisation order and timing depend on local climate, season, and the regional insect fauna, so a series built in a temperate region will not accurately predict succession in a tropical or arid region, and using a mismatched series can produce a badly wrong PMI estimate.
How much does habitat affect the reliability of a reference succession series?+
Considerably. A series built from carcasses left in open sun will not transfer well to a shaded, indoor, or buried scenario, so examiners try to match the reference conditions as closely as possible to the actual scene before applying the series.
Related terms
- Carrion Community
- The full assemblage of arthropods associated with a decomposing body at a given point in time: calyptrate flies, silphid and staphylinid beetles,...
- Dermestidae (Hide Beetles)
- Beetles in the family Dermestidae that colonise remains in the dry or skeletal stage, feeding on desiccated tissue, skin, and hair. Their...
- Faunal Succession
- The predictable, roughly ordered replacement of one insect community by another as a cadaver's chemistry and physical condition change through decomposition. Each...
- Indicator Species
- A species whose known arrival window in the local succession series allows the analyst to set a bound on elapsed time. Its...
- Silphidae (Burying Beetles and Allies)
- A family of carrion beetles that arrive during active or advanced decay. Some bury small carcasses for larval feeding; others compete with...