Margined carrion beetle

Description

Margined carrion beetle is a ⅜″ to ½″ long carrion beetle found mostly in deciduous forests. These beetles are used by crime scene investigators to estimate post mortem intervals (PMI).

The pronotum is dark brown or black with with orange-red lateral margins. The orange-red area does not extend across the lower margin.

The thick, hardened, shell-like forewings (elytra) are dark brown and have a distinctive tooth on the shoulder. Conspicuous vertical ridges extend from the base over more than half the length of the elytra. The elytra ends are rounded on males, more tapered on females.

The temples behind the eyes bear a row of long, erect, yellow-tinted bristles.

The metatibiae are enlarged on males.

Size

⅜″ to ½″

Similar Species

American carrion beetle (Necrophila americana) is larger, ½″ to ¾″ long. The pronotum has yellow margins and a black mark that does not extend to the lower margin.

Ridged carrion beetle (Oiceoptoma inaequale) has an entirely black pronotum with no colored margins.

Habitat

Deciduous forests.

Ecology

Season

April to October

Behavior

Life Cycle

Adults overwinter and reproduction takes place in the spring. There is one generation per year.

Larva Food/Hosts

Carrion, decaying fungi.

Adult Food

Fly larvae on carrion and, rarely, the carrion itself.