American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus)

Description

American burying beetle fact file

• Description
• Biology
• Range
• Habitat
• Status
• Threats
• Conservation
• Find out more
• Glossary
• References
• Print factsheet

American burying beetle description

The American burying beetle is the largest carrion beetle in North America ⁽²⁾. It has extremely distinctive colouration, being shiny black with bright orange markings; there are four orange bands on the wing cases (known as 'elytra'), but unusually the pronotum and face also have orange markings ⁽²⁾.

Size

Length: 2.5 - 3.8 cm ⁽²⁾

American burying beetle biology

Burying beetles receive their common name from their specialised mechanism of parental care that involves providing the growing larvae with carrion upon which to feed. At night, beetle pairs will locate a suitable carcass and then cooperate to bury it in the soil, thus protecting their find from competition with other species ⁽²⁾. Once the carcass is beneath the soil, the beetles strip away the fur or feathers and produce a compact ball; the female then lays her eggs in a chamber created above the carcass ⁽²⁾. Unusually for insects, the parents both remain to provide for the larvae after they have hatched, regurgitating food for the growing grubs until they are able to feed for themselves ⁽²⁾. Roughly a week later, the larvae pupate in the soil nearby, having consumed the entire food supply; they will emerge as adults around a month later and overwinter in this stage ⁽²⁾. American burying beetles only live for one season and adults die soon after they have ceased to provide for their young ⁽²⁾.

American burying beetle range

Historically found throughout the eastern United States and into southern Canada ⁽²⁾, this burying beetle is today restricted to populations in a handful of central States ⁽³⁾.

American burying beetle habitat

The specific habitat requirements of this species are not fully understood and it appears that the availability of carrion may be the limiting factor. In Nebraska, beetles have been observed in grassland prairie, scrubland and forest edges ⁽²⁾.

American burying beetle status

Classified as Critically Endangered (CR - A1c) on the IUCN Red List 2002 ⁽¹⁾.

American burying beetle threats

American burying beetles have been lost from the majority of their former range; populations in the east had largely disappeared by the 1920s, whilst the decline in the American Midwest was well documented in the 1980s ⁽²⁾. One of the major causes of this decline in abundance is the fragmentation of available habitat; leading to changes in the availability of carrion, increased competition, and the isolation of remaining popualtions ⁽²⁾.

American burying beetle conservation

The precarious sate of the population of American burying beetles was recognised in 1989 when the species was listed as Endangered on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Endangered Species List ⁽³⁾. A Recovery Plan has been drawn up, and searches for remnant populations are underway ⁽²⁾. In Rhode Island and Oklahoma, the known populations are monitored and their habitats managed, and in Massachusetts a number of beetles, from a captive population at Boston University, have been released ⁽²⁾.

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Find out more

For more on the American burying beetle see:
• University of Nebraska State Museum
  http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/index.htm
• For the Action Plan see
  http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plans/1991/910927.pdf
• NatureServe Explorer
  http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Nicrophorus+americanus

Authentication

Authenticated (8/5/03) by Brett Ratcliffe, University of Nebraska.
http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/index.htm

Glossary

Elytra

In beetles and earwigs, the hard fore wings. They are held aloft when the insect flies, and are often coloured or patterned.

Larvae

Stage in an animal's lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.

Pronotum

In insects, the hardened cuticle on the upper surface of the first thoracic segment (the part of the body nearest the head).

Pupate

The process of forming a pupa, the stage in an insect's development, when huge changes occur that reorganise the larval form into the adult form. In butterflies the pupa is also called a chrysalis.

References

1. IUCN Red List (April, 2003) www.redlist.org
2. University of Nebraska State Museum (April, 2003) http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/index.htm
3. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (April, 2003) http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.servlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=I028