Stats

Lifespan

About 1 yr

Size

Medium

Diet

Carnivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Warning colors

Status

Common

About

The American Carrion Beetle has a broad yellow pronotum marked with a black central smudge, covering a shiny black body. It feeds on carrion and the fly larvae swarming it, and often hitches phoretic mites along for the ride to help clear its next carcass of competing maggots.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A small egg is laid on or near the larval food source and hatches within days or weeks.
2. 2.
   juvenile

   An immature insect feeds and molts, growing through successive instars.
3. 3.
   subadult

   A near-adult insect has wing buds or near-mature form, one molt away from full size.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown, with full wings and adult coloration.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Coleoptera

Family

Staphylinidae

Genus

Necrophila

Species

Necrophila americana