Pustulated carrion beetle
The pustulated carrion beetle is a shiny black beetle with small orange spots on its back. It belongs to the burying beetles, which are nature's clean-up crew. Its feelers end in little orange clubs.
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Fun facts
Its bright orange spots warn hungry animals that it does not taste good.
Its short wing cases leave the last 3 or 4 parts of its belly uncovered.
For a long time people thought it was rare, because it almost never falls into the traps that catch other burying beetles.
Scientists think it may be the only beetle whose young grow up feeding on a living animal with a backbone instead of a dead one.
Most asked questions about Pustulated carrion beetle
?What does a carrion beetle eat?
Burying beetles feed on dead animals. They are part of nature's clean-up crew.
?How big is a pustulated carrion beetle?
About 14 to 22 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nicrophorus pustulatus
- Named by
- Herschel, 1807
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Silphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Silphidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Blistered burying beetle
Where the facts come from
- Nicrophorus pustulatus (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 Doctorkilmer. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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