Common burying beetle
The common burying beetle is a big black beetle with two bright orange bands on its back and golden hairs. It is nature's little gravedigger. When it finds a dead mouse or bird, it buries it underground to feed its babies.
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Fun facts
A mum and dad beetle can bury a whole mouse in just one day by digging the soil out from under it.
Before burying it, they remove the fur or feathers and roll the body into a ball in a little underground room.
Both parents stay to feed and guard their babies for 10 days or even longer.
It is a strong flier and can travel to find dead animals.
The ends of its feelers look like little orange clubs.
Most asked questions about Common burying beetle
?What does a burying beetle do?
It buries small dead animals underground and lays its eggs next to them, so its babies have food.
?Is the burying beetle dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people, but it is best to just look and not touch.
?How big is a burying beetle?
It is about 12 to 25 millimetres long, a big beetle for Europe.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nicrophorus vespillo
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Silphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Silphidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Nicrophorus vespillo (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Udo Schmidt from Deutschland. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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