American carrion beetle

American carrion beetles ( Necrophila americana)

The American carrion beetles ( Necrophila americana, Syn Silpha americana) is a species of carrion beetles ( Silphidae ) within the genus Necrophila. It is widely distributed in North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

Features

The beetles are 17 to 22 millimeters long. The body shape is wide, and a slightly convex and oval at the top. The pronotum ( pronotum ) is off-white to yellowish with a black center. The wing covers ( elytra ) are colored brown black and have three distinct longitudinal ridges, which are connected by several dark transverse webs. The head, the antennas and the base body are black.

Occurrence

The animals are found in many parts of North America east of the Rocky Mountains in southern Canada and the United States in the Nearctic. They can be found everywhere, where carrion is available; a special preference for certain habitats does not exist.

Way of life

Like all gravedigger lives this kind of carrion and in this living fly larvae. You are looking for carrion during the day and find it about the smell. The eggs are laid singly on or in the vicinity of rotting carrion. The larvae feed on the carrion and pupate in small caves in the ground, the adults fly from May to July.