Habitat
Adults: terrestrial
Immatures: terrestrial

Feeding Habits
Adults:

Immatures:

North American
Species: 46

Coleoptera Silphidae
Carrion beetles

Special Characteristics: Carrion beetles are mostly large (over 10 mm) and often black with bright orange or reddish marks. They have a soft and somewhat flattened body.

Comments: Adults of many species are also called burying beetles, because they will bury dead animals and lay eggs on the carrion. The larvae then feed on the buried animal. Usually the larvae feed on the carrion, but sometimes they feed on the fly larvae present on the carrion, and a few species are phytophagous. The adults are scavengers and/or predaceous.

Species:
Nicrophorus sayi Laporte

Common Name:

Feeding Habits: Both the larvae and the adults feed on carrion.

Distribution:
Widespread in Canada.

Comments:
Most species of Nicrophorus are red and black in color. Members of this genus are often known as burying beetles, because they bury bodies of small animals such as mice and small birds or hide the body under leaves.