Also, a person's remains can be identified even if there is no reference sample of their DNA, because the remains can be compared to any member of the same maternal lineage. For example, the bones of female members of the Russian royal family were identified more than 70 years after they were shot by the Bolsheviks. J. Legal Med. Insects collected as evidence during a death investigation are often preserved as eggs or larvae, and these can be difficult or impossible to identify. Proper identification is needed to analyze such evidence, and DNA now allows us to recognize formerly difficult specimens.
Sarcophagid flies are conspicuous and commonly found in dead bodies.
However the larvae cannot be identified based on anatomy, even to the level of genus. We have found that the sarcophagid species likely to be found in a human corpse in Canada and the USA are easily distinguished using mtDNA sequence data. Phylogenetic analysis using these data also seems to work well, as indicated by the most parsimonious tree at left which agrees with recent cladistic analysis based on adult morphology. Although the larva could not be identified based on anatomy, its DNA exactly matches one of the adult specimens. Promega has a genetic identity glossary , and check out this fellow's handy list of terms .