although autopsy is typically thought of as a horrific disfigurement of the human body, it is actually an adequate procedure capable of determining a legitimate pmi, assuring medical conditions, and assisting in justifying a case that may have involved violent crime. during an autopsy various tasks and procedures must take place, as well as proper collection of entomological evidence. entomological evidence is usually gathered at the crime scene while the body is in situ. this allows for a much more accurate estimation of the time of death. if the entomological evidence is not gathered before the body is removed, then the evidence may be collected at the time of the autopsy by an entomologist or a medical examiner. certain insects and their life stages, within the corpse, are examined to estimate the time of death of the individual. it is critical to specify the immature stages prior to rearing them or refrigerating the body because low temperature has different effects on various stages of immaturity. a study on the effects of refrigeration on the biometry and development of "protophormia terraenovae" shows that “10 days of refrigeration induced a decrease of the total developmental time of 56 and 18 hours for l1 [first stage larvae] and pre-pupae and an increase of 15 hours for l2 [second stage larvae].”