American Carrion Beetle

Taxobox
name = "Necrophilia americana"
status =
status_system =


image_width = 200px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Coleoptera
familia = Silphidae
subfamilia =
tribus =
genus = "Necrophilia"
species = "N. americana"
binomial = "Necrophilia americana"
binomial_authority =
synonyms ="Silpha americana" Linnaeus, 1758

The American Carrion Beetle ("Necrophilia americana", formerly "Silpha americana") is a North American beetle of the family Silphidae. It lays its eggs in, and its larva consume carrion or fungi (particularly mushrooms). The larva and adults also consume fly larva and the larva of other carrion beetles that compete for the same food sources as its larva. cite web |url=http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek040508.html |title=Carrion Beetles & Phoretic Mites: Masters of Animal Decomposition |accessdate=2008-07-21 |last=Hilton, Jr. |first=Bill |year=2004 |month=May |work=This week at Hilton Pond |publisher=Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History |pages= |language= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] cite book |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor=Jason H. Byrd & James L. Castner |others= |title=Forensic Entomology: The Utility of Arthropods in Legal Investigations |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=iAtRGA2IfcwC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=beetle+%22Necrophilia+americana%22+-CSI+-wiki+-blog&source=web&ots=kahBF2He45&sig=nSza0RMtinv3S8N2K0ak6B2V1_U&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result |format= |accessdate=2008-07-21 |edition=2000 |series= |volume= |date=2000-09-28 |publisher= CRC Press |location=New York |language= |isbn=978-0849381201 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=63 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ]

Range

The beetle lives in North America east of the Rocky Mountains, with its southern boundary from eastern Texas to Florida and the northern boundary from Minnesota to southeastern Canada and Maine.

Appearance

Adults are 12 to 22 millimeters long. The pronotum is primarily a pale yellow with a black spot in the center. In the southern portion of the range, the elytra are entirely black while in the northern portion they have a yellow rear tip. The elytra are shorter than the body of the beetle, leaving the tail end slightly exposed. The larva are black and appear armored.

Lifecycle

From spring through fall, during daylight, a few hours after flies begin arriving at a carcass, the adult beetles will arrive as well. They immediately begin eating the already hatching fly larva, mating, and laying their own eggs. As long as the carcass lasts, the adults will remain eating competitors to give their own larva a chance to eat and grow. Upon hatching from the eggs, the larva will eat both the carcass and other larva that are within it. Eventually the larva will fall to the ground, dig into the dirt, and pupate. Overwintering is done by adults.

Mutualism

The beetle is known to engage in mutualistic phoresis with non-flying mites of the genus "Poecilochirus". Upon arrival at a carcass, these mites drop from the beetle and begin eating the eggs and larva of the flies that preceeded the beetles (and continue to lay more eggs even as the beetles are active). They will eventually return to the adults and be transported to the next carcass. Some of their young will hitch a ride with the beetles young upon their emergence from the pupa.

References