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Contents: Preface. About the book. Introduction. Aims and objectives of the study. Materials and methods. Systematic list of species. Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Discussion. Acknowledgements. References.

Because of the way they feed, forensic dipterans are typically the first group of carrion entomofauna to visit the carrion to begin the decomposition process, generally within minutes of death. Even though the adult dipterans consume the fluids from the body, the larvae are the real agents of decomposition because they release enzymes immediately into the carrion, which aids in the breakdown of the cadaver tissues and boosts microbial activity. The initial arthropods known to visit dead bodies within minutes of their passing are dipterans, particularly blowflies. Following them come slow waves of dipteran succession, typically from other dominating families like Muscidae and Sarcophagidae, flowed later by less common necrophilic groups. The main goal of this book was to compile comprehensive information on the taxonomy of forensic flies, their molecular identification, and the bionomics of the most abundant forensic flies linked to the vertebrate carcass in various geo-climatic areas of West Bengal. The authors have compiled information on 59 forensic fly species available from West Bengal with 6 new records of species. Such an effort is being made for the first time, which is extremely important from the perspectives of carrion ecology and related fields, in addition to its implications for forensic entomology studies from this region. The current integrative investigation also included the COI barcoding of forensic fly species, including Sarcophagidae, Muscidae, Calliphoridae, Phoridae, etc. for molecular identification in place of morphology-based species identification. This work enables the COI gene database of forensic flies in GenBank and BOLD from this part of India. Bionomics of the two most abundant species of forensic flies namely Chrysomya megacephala and Sarcophaga (Liosarcophaga) dux are included in this book. These compiled information and data will significantly help forensic research and forensic scientists from the part of India.