Successional PMI Window
Definition
The time range implied by knowing that the body is in a particular succession stage. Broader than a development-based estimate but extends the useful PMI range to weeks or months rather than days.
- Field
- Entomological PMI estimation
- Basis
- Insect succession stage identified on the body
- Width
- Broader than development-based estimates
- Effective range
- Weeks to months, not days
Common questions
When would an investigator prefer a successional window over a development-based PMI estimate?+
Once the case is past the days-long range where larval development ages apply, for example when only later-stage skeletal or dry-stage remains are found. At that point species development data can no longer narrow the estimate, but which succession wave is present still constrains the possible time since death.
Why is the successional window necessarily wider than a development-based figure?+
A succession stage can persist for a variable stretch of time depending on temperature, humidity, and body condition, so identifying that a body is, for example, in the advanced decay stage indicates a range of weeks rather than a specific day. Precision is traded for a much longer usable estimation range.
Related terms
- Carrion Succession
- The predictable, roughly sequential replacement of insect communities on a decomposing body, driven by changing chemical substrate. Not a strict relay with...
- Faunal Assemblage
- The complete community of arthropod species present at a body at a given time. Comparing an observed assemblage against reference succession data...
- Primary Coloniser
- A species that exploits the body directly, typically arriving at or very soon after death, before decomposition has substantially modified the resource....
- Secondary Coloniser
- A species that requires a chemical or physical change produced by primary colonisers before it can exploit the resource: cheese skippers attracted...
- Tertiary Coloniser
- A predator or parasite that feeds on primary or secondary colonisers rather than directly on the body. Their presence on a corpse...