Centipede inflicted postmortem injury.
We here report the first case of postmortem injury caused by a centipede. An old man was found dead in his bedroom. The death was estimated to be due to intracranial hemorrhage and to have occurred two days before the police inspection. A centipede about 12 cm long emerged from a subcutaneous cavity on the victim's forearm. Obviously, the centipede had dug the cavity on the intact skin. A police inspector was bitten by the centipede, so he stepped on the centipede on the floor. The exudate from the insect was identified to be derived from the victim's blood.
Harada
K
K
Department of Legal Medicine, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Japan.
Asa
K
K
Imachi
T
T
Yamaguchi
Y
Y
Yoshida
K
K
D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods; D004772:Entomology; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D011180:Postmortem Changes