American Burying Beetle
By: Tyesha Nix
Family
A Critical Endangered Species Of Beetle Endemic To North America. It Belongs To To The Order Coleoptera And The Family Silphidae.
Unique Ways
About An Inch And A Half Long, The American Burying Beetle Can Be Identified By Its Striking Distinctive Coloring. The Body Is Shiny And Black, On Its Wing Covers Are Four Scalloped, Orange- Red Markings. Has Orange Facial Markings And Orange Tips On Its Antennae. They Beetles Are Very Strong Fliers. They Fly As Far As A Kilometer In One Night.
Male And Female
Male Fights Male And Female Fights Female Until The Until The Winning Pair Is Still Remaining Which Usually The Largest One.
Female Beetle
Female Beetles Lay Their Eggs In Soil Around The Crypt.The Larvae Hatch After A Few Days And Move Into The Pit In The Carcass Which The Parents Have Created. Although The Larvae Are Able To Feed Themselves, both Parents Also Feed The Larvae In Response To Begging. They Digest The Flesh And Throw Up Liquid Food For The Larvae To Feed On A Form Progressive Provisioning.
Larvae
Where Can You Find Them?
They Have A Slight Preference To Live In The Grassland And Open Understory Oak History Forrest. However The Beetles Are Carrion Specialists In That They Need Carrion The Size Of A Dove Or Chipmunk.
Why Are They Rare?
They Haven't Unlocked The Mystery Why They They American Burying Beetle Has Disappeared From So Many Areas. Biologist Return Each Year To Penikesse Island To Study the survival and growth of the beetle population. Hopefully, their annual visits will provide clues about the environmental conditions American burying beetles must have to live and reproduce.
What Are They Helping Us?
Since the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, more than 500 species, subspecies and varieties of our nation's plants and animals are known to have become extinct. This recent, catastrophic loss of biological diversity is continuing at an unprecedented rate. Each and every species has a valuable ecological role in the balance of nature, and each loss destabilizes that fragile balance. Once a species is extinct, it is gone forever. Experience has proven that many plants and animals have properties which will prove beneficial to humans as sources of food and medicine. With the loss of each species, we lose a potential resource for improving the quality of life for all humanity.