Margined carrion beetle
The margined carrion beetle is a flat dark beetle with a bright orange red edge around the shield behind its head. It is one of nature's cleaners. It comes to dead animals in the forest and helps to clear them away.
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Fun facts
Its scientific name noveboracense means from New York, where the first one was found.
Its babies are flat and look a bit like tiny trilobites, the sea animals of long ago.
Police scientists use it to help work out how long ago an animal or person died.
It is active in the daytime, from spring to autumn.
From mating to a brand new grown-up beetle takes about 45 days.
Most asked questions about Margined carrion beetle
?Why is it called the margined carrion beetle?
Because the shield behind its head has a bright orange red edge, or margin, and it lives on carrion, which means dead animals.
?What does the margined carrion beetle eat?
Grown-ups mostly eat fly maggots on dead animals, and the babies eat the dead animal.
?Is the margined carrion beetle dangerous?
No, it does not bite. Its belly can carry germs from dead animals, so it is best not to handle it.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Oiceoptoma noveboracense
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Silphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Silphidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Oiceoptoma noveboracense (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 Mehermance ( talk ) ( Uploads ). Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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