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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Staphyliniformia » Staphylinoidea » Carrion Beetles (Silphidae) » Necrophila » American Carrion Beetle (Necrophila americana)
Photo#68049
American Carrion Beetle? - Necrophila americana
Copyright © 2006 Steve Scott

American Carrion Beetle? - Necrophila americana
Fairfield, Wayne County, Illinois, USA
July 16, 2006
Met him tooling across my garden. Very intent on business. First time for me, so looking for ID confirmation.
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Contributed by Steve Scott on 1 August, 2006 - 5:27pm

Yes
Nothing else looks close at all, excepting for comment below.
… Jim McClarin, 1 August, 2006 - 6:33pm login or register to post comments

A bumble bee mimic.
It seems hard to believe. When they are scuttling under a carcase they look like carrion beetles, but when they are flying rapidly, no doubt guided by nose, to a new corpse, they are almost indistinguishable from a bumble bee. The yellow thorax looks like the hairy yellow thorax of a bumble bee, and the black spot in the center, like the bald patch in most bumble bee thoraxes.
… norman and cheryl lavers, 1 August, 2006 - 6:07pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks
Cool description. I'll have to check out every "bumble bee" flying by now.
… Steve Scott, 2 August, 2006 - 12:23am login or register to post comments

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