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Biography
Qualifications
Jan 2005 – April 2008 DOCTOR OF PHILIOSOPHY (Entomology) from Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. Upgraded from MSc on 21 August 2006, Thesis title: “Effects of temperature on the development, behaviour and geography of blowflies in a forensic context”.
Jan 2004 – Dec 2004 BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (Honours) in Entomology from Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Feb 2001 – Dec 2003 BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (Entomology and Microbiology majors) from Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Employment history
May 2009 – present Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom - Post Doctoral Fellow
Feb 2008 – Sept 2008 Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa - Post Doctoral Fellow
Professional Roles
Awards
2006 & 2007 Ernst and Ethel Eriksen Trust Bursary for PhD
National Research Foundation Grant Holders Bursary for PhD
Graduate Assistance Bursary for tutoring
2005 Ernst and Ethel Eriksen Trust Bursary for Masters
National Research Foundation Grant Holders Bursary for Masters
Graduate Assistance Bursary for tutoring
2004 Graduate Assistance Bursary for tutoring
Conference Proceedings
Richards CS, Price BW, Villet MH. Estimating the temperature experienced by blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) during larval development: Part 1. Proceedings of the 7th European Association for Forensic Entomology. 9th-12th June 2009. Uppsala, Sweden
Villet MH, Richards CS, Midgley JM. Limitations to precision of estimates of minimum post-mortem intervals using development of carrion-feeding insects. Proceedings of the 7th European Association for Forensic Entomology. 9th-12th June 2009. Uppsala, Sweden
Villet MH, Richards CS. Factors affecting accuracy and precision of thermal summation models of insect development used to estimate postmortem intervals. Proceedings of the 6th European Association for Forensic Entomology. 20th-24th May 2008. Kolymbari/Crete. Greece
Richards CS, Crous KL, Villet MH. Models of development for the blowflies Chrysomya chloropyga and C. putoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Proceedings of the 6th European Association for Forensic Entomology. 20th-24th May 2008. Kolymbari/Crete. Greece
Richards CS, Crous KL, Villet MH. Larval development of two forensically important blowflies, Chrysomya chloropyga Weidemann and C. putoria Weidemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae), in relation to their distribution in South Africa. The 33rd bi-annual conference of the Zoological Society of Southern Africa. 8th-11th July 2007. North-West University. Potchefstroom. South Africa
Richards CS, Paterson IH, Villet MH. Latitude-related variation in the development rates of the green blowfly Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Proceedings of the 5th European Association for Forensic Entomology. 2nd-5th May 2007. Brussels. Belgium
Richards CS, Price B, Villet MH. Physical and behavioural thermoregulation of blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and the implications for PMI estimates. Proceedings of the 15th Congress of the ESSA. 2005. Rhodes University. Grahamstown. South Africa
Research
Forensic Entomology
The term ‘forensic entomology’ refers to the use of insects as an investigative tool and can be applied in a number of public sectors, including domestic i.e. pest control, commercial i.e. stored products, and criminal i.e. medico-legal. The forensic entomology group at the Natural History Museum focuses primarily on medico-legal forensic entomology, working closely with law enforcement groups to gather and analyse entomological evidence in cases of suspicious death. One key focus area of my research is to build a data base of development models for six of the most forensically important blowfly species in the UK. The products of this research will greatly increase the accuracy and precision of our time-of-death or post-mortem interval (PMI) estimates.
Publications
Manuscripts
2011
Amendt J, Richards CS, Campobasso CP, Zehner R, Hall MJR (2011) Forensic entomology: applications and limitations. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology (In Press) DOI 10.1007/s12024-010-9209-2
2010
Hall MJR, Richards CS, Whitaker AP (2010) Forensic entomology advances. Forensic Technology Review 1: 140-151
2009
Richards CS, Williams KA, Villet MH. (2009) Predicting geographic distribution of seven blowfly species (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in South Africa. African Entomology 17(2): 170-182
Richards CS, Villet MH (2009) Data quality in thermal summation models of development of forensically important blowflies. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 23: 269-276
Richards CS, Price BW, Villet MH (2009) Thermal eco-physiology of seven carrion-feeding blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in South Africa.Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 131: 11-19
Richards CS, Crous K, Villet MH (2009) Models of development for the blowflies Chrysomya chloropyga and C. putoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Medical and Veterinary Entomology 23: 56-61
2008
Richards CS, Villet MH (2008) Factors affecting accuracy and precision of thermal summation models of insect development used to estimate postmortem intervals. International Journal of Legal Medicine 122: 401-408
Richards CS, Paterson IH, Villet MH. (2008) Estimating the age of immature Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera: Calliphoridae), correcting for temperature and geographic latitude. International Journal of Legal Medicine 122: 271–279
2005
Richards CS, Hill MP, Dames FJ (2005) The susceptibility of small hive beetle (Aethina tumida Murray) pupae to Aspergillus niger (van Tieghem) and A. flavus (Link:Grey). American Bee Journal 70: 748-751
2004
Ellis JD, Delaplane KS, Richards CS, Hepburn R, Berry JA, Elzen PJ (2004) Hygenic behaviour of Cape and European Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) toward Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) eggs oviposited in sealed bee brood. Annual of the Entomological Society of America 90: 860-864
2003
Ellis JD, Richards CS, Hepburn HR, Elzen PJ (2003) Oviposition by small hive beetles elicits hygienic responses from Cape honeybees. Naturwissenschaften 90: 532-535
Book Chapters
Villet MH, Richards CS, Midgley JM (2010) Contemporary precision, bias and accuracy of minimum post-mortem interval estimated using development of carrion-feeding insects. In: Amendt J, Campobasso CP, Goff ML, Grassberger M (Eds). Current concepts in forensic entomology. Springer, London, UK
Midgley JM, Richards CS, Villet MH (2010) The utility of Coleoptera in forensic entomology. In: Amendt J, Campobasso CP, Goff ML, Grassberger M (Eds). Current concepts in forensic entomology. Springer, London, UK
Book Reviews
Villet MH, Richards CS (2008) Forensic Entomology: An Introduction. D.E. Gennard. Wiley, Chichester. 2007. African Entomology 16(2): 00-00