Say's burying beetle
Nicrophorus sayi
Say's burying beetle is one of nature's clean-up helpers. Burying beetles find small dead animals, like a mouse or a bird, and bury them in the ground. Then the beetle parents use them as food for their babies.
Lives in
North America, in woods
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. Just remember it works with dead animals, so do not pick it up, and wash your hands if you touch it.
What does it eat?
It eats dead animals. The parents bury a small one and feed their babies from it.
How fast is it?
A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Say's burying beetle about 0.5 km/h (0.31 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Burying beetles are among the few beetles where the mother and father look after their babies together.
2
Its name honours Thomas Say, an early American bug scientist.
3
It was first described by a scientist named Laporte in 1840.
you asked
Most asked questions about Say's burying beetle
?What does Say's burying beetle eat?
Dead animals. It buries small ones, like mice, and feeds its babies from them.
?Is Say's burying beetle dangerous?
No. It cannot sting and is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nicrophorus sayi
- Named by
- Laporte, 1840
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Silphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Silphidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Nicrophorus sayi (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 Michael K. Oliver, Ph.D.. 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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