| ?Burying beetles |
American Burying Beetle | | Scientific classification | | | | Species | | See text. American Burrying Beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) Source: http://ifw2es. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ...
Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subregnum Agnotozoa Placozoa (trichoplax) Orthonectida (orthonectids) Rhombozoa (dicyemids) Subregnum Eumetazoa Radiata (unranked) (radial symmetry) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Bilateria (unranked) (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Myxozoa (slime animals) Superphylum Deuterostomia (blastopore becomes anus) Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ...
Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - spiders,scorpions, etc. ...
Classes & Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrate animals of the Class Insecta, the largest and (on land) most widely-distributed taxon within the phylum Arthropoda. ...
Suborders Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera Wikispecies has information related to: Coleoptera Beetles are the most diverse group of insects. ...
Subfamilies Nicrophorinae Silphinae (15 genera) Carrion beetles (Family Silphidae) are a minor group of beetles, consisting of about 300 species. ...
Johann Christian Fabricius. ...
| Burying beetles or sexton beetles (genus Nicrophorus) are the best-known members of the family Silphidae (carrion beetles). Most of these beetles are black with red markings on the elytra (forewings). They bury the carcasses of small vertebrates such as birds and rodents as a food source for their larvae. They are unusual among insects in that both the male and female parents take care of the brood (biparental care). In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a taxonomic grouping. ...
Subfamilies Nicrophorinae Silphinae (15 genera) Carrion beetles (Family Silphidae) are a minor group of beetles, consisting of about 300 species. ...
Suborders Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera Wikispecies has information related to: Coleoptera Beetles are the most diverse group of insects. ...
The elytra of this cockchafer are readily distinguished from the transparent hindwings. ...
Orders Many - see section below. ...
Suborders Sciuromorpha Castorimorpha Myomorpha Anomaluromorpha Hystricomorpha Rodentia is an order of mammals (Mammalia). ...
Reproduction Burying beetles have large club-like antennae equipped with chemoreceptors capable of detecting a dead animal from a long way away. After finding a carcass (most likely that of a small bird or a mouse), beetles fight amongst themselves (males fighting males, females fighting females) until the winning pair (usually the largest) remain. If a lone beetle finds a carcass, it can continue alone and await a partner. Single males attract a mate by releasing a pheromone from the tip of his abdomen. Females can raise a brood alone, fertilizing her eggs using sperm stored from previous copulations. Antennae (singular antenna), are the paired appendages connecting to the first (and in crustaceans also to the second) segment of the head of the members of all subphyla of the arthropods except Chelicerata. ...
A Chemosensor, also known as chemoreceptor, is a cell or group of cells that transduce a chemical signal into an action potential. ...
Orders Many - see section below. ...
Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ...
Fanning honeybee exposes Nasonov gland (white-at tip of abdomen) releasing pheromone to entice swarm into an empty hive A pheromone is any chemical or set of chemicals produced by a living organism that transmits a message to other members of the same species. ...
The carcass must be buried by the beetle(s) to get it out of the way of potential competitors, which are numerous.
The prospective parents begin to dig a hole below the carcass. While doing so, the beetles cover the animal with antibacterial and antifungal oral and anal secretions, slowing the decay of the carcass and preventing the smell of rotting flesh from attracting competition. The carcass is formed into a ball and the fur or feathers stripped away and used to line and reinforce the crypt, where the carcass will remain until the flesh has been completely consumed. The burial process can take around 8 hours.
The female burying beetle lays eggs in the soil around the crypt. The larvae hatch after a few days and move into a pit in the carcass which the parents have created. Although the larvae are able to feed themselves, both parents also feed the larvae: they digest the flesh and regurgitate liquid food for the larvae to feed on. This probably speeds up larval development. Regurgitation is the passive flow of stomach contents back into the esophagus and mouth. ...
At an early stage, the parents may cull their young. This infanticide functions to match the number of larvae to the size of the carcass so that there is enough food to go around. If there are too many young, they will all be underfed and will develop less quickly, reducing their chances of surviving to adulthood. If there are too few young, the resulting adult beetles will be large but the parents could have produced more of them. The most successful beetle parents will achieve a good balance between the size of offspring and the number produced. This unusual method of brood size regulation might be the result of the eggs being laid before the female has been able to gauge the size of the carcass and hence how many larvae it can provision. In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant of a given species, by members of the same species - often by the mother. ...
Several pairs of beetles may cooperate to bury large carcasses and then raise their broods communally.
The adult beetles continue to protect the larvae, which take several days to mature. Many competitors make this task difficult, e.g. bluebottles and ants or burying beetles of either another or the same species. Subfamilies Calliphorinae Chrysomyiinae The Blowflies are members of the family Calliphoridae of flies (Diptera). ...
Subfamilies Aenictinae Aenictogitoninae Aneuretinae Apomyrminae Cerapachyinae Dolichoderinae Dorylinae Ecitoninae Formicinae Leptanillinae Leptanilloidinae Myrmeciinae Myrmicinae Nothomyrmeciinae Ponerinae Pseudomyrmecinae Diagram of a worker ant (Pachycondyla verenae). ...
The final stage larvae migrate into the soil and pupate, transforming from small white larvae to fully formed adult beetles.
Parental care is quite rare among insects, and burying beetles are remarkable exceptions. Classes & Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrate animals of the Class Insecta, the largest and (on land) most widely-distributed taxon within the phylum Arthropoda. ...
Species As of 2006 there are 68 valid, extant species in the genus Nicrophorus although a few undescribed species and synonyms remain to be worked up.
Common European species:
- N. humator
- N. investigator
- N. vespillo
- N. vespilloides
- N. vestigator
- N. interruptus
- N. germanicus - rare
Common North American species: - N. americanus - American Burying Beetlequite rare
- N. sayi
- N. orbicollis
- N. pustulatus
- N. investigator
- N. defodiens
- N. tomentosus
- N. vespillo
- N. vespilloides
- N. nigrita
Common Japanese species: Binomial name Nicrophorus americanus (Olivier, 1790) The American Burying Beetle or Giant Carrion Beetle, Nicrophorus americanus, is an endangered species of beetle endemic to North America. ...
- N. maculifrons
- N. quadripunctatus
- N. concolor
- N. montivagus
- N. japonicus
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