American Carrion Beetle - Necrophila americana

Found in Fayette Co, WV

Found a handful of these feasting on a dead mole today along with some other beetles! I'd never seen them before, so it was a pleasant surprise. For a moment I thought they were strangely-flat bumblebees.

… B. Reynolds, 4 May, 2015 - 4:39pm

American Carrion Beetle

Found them in my garden destroying my tomato crop! Took the tomatoes with them in it to my layer chicken coop and they loved them. Waste not want not.

… brimfield, 25 August, 2014 - 9:55am

Found in fort towson, ok on 5

Found in fort towson, ok on 5-5-2013.

… kellie holt, 6 May, 2013 - 4:28pm

Amer Carrion Beetle

We just moved to the Cable, WI area and my husband looked your site up after seeing this beetle. Actually, we saw MANY of them in a new compost pile we just started in the woods.

… Nanc237oftheNorth, 23 May, 2012 - 7:19pm

American Carrion Beetle

I came across a swarm of them devouring what looked to be a baby bird while picking Mullberries next to the creek on my prop. & figured the little thing must have fallen from its nest. It was hard to tell how many there were & I'd never seen anything like them & didn't want to disturb them but did manage to get a few pics before leaving them. They were a bit SCARY as I noticed that not only were they colored & marked MUCH like a Bumble Bee, a few (not all) also seemed to have what looked like a "stinger"! This was sevral yrs ago & I tried posting the pics to find out what they were but hd no luck. I found this site yesterday & joined instantly! Will be going thru my photo files as there are SEVERAL bugs (generally speaking) I've captured of which I can't identify. Maybe I'll b able to learn what they are as well.

THANKS!

Now to find a Bird Guide similar to this site....

… Sharon Young, 7 April, 2012 - 2:17pm

American carrion beetle

It was today 8/29'10 when I found this weird creature in my frontyard in northern Virginia. I found out what it was an hour later. It was a american carrion beetle.

… yannkees fan, 29 August, 2010 - 10:12am

carrion beetles

Saw two of these under a dead king snake I moved after finding
it in the back yard in Monroe, Ga.

… mike moore, 11 July, 2011 - 12:57pm

american carrion beetle

I found one outside my front door crawling.I've never seen one around here so I looked it up on this site and become a member.I live in northeast Illinoise.

… ian17, 23 July, 2010 - 6:34pm

American Carrion Beetle

I saw two of these beetles in the garbage can in Annapolis, Maryland.

I have never seen them previously.

… stlukes, 30 August, 2009 - 11:38pm

American Carrion Beetle

I saw several of these beetles in my yard eating on a mushroom. I live in Tennessee and have never seen these beetles before. August 6, 2009

… sshockley, 6 August, 2009 - 12:46pm

American Carion Beetle

I observed 9 of these little creatures in the woods near Lake Saint Louis, Missouri today. They appeared to be devouring the stem of a Sherbert orange colored toadstool of some type.

… Scorpius, 29 June, 2009 - 10:18am

American Carrion Beetle

Just fished the first of these I've ever seen out of my pool in Ottawa, Ontario. Now that I know what it is, it's going to go somewhere much safer. Thanks for a very informative site!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

… Barry Cottam, 25 August, 2007 - 3:00pm

Six on Watermelon

I saw six of these on a watermelon rind in Ontario, Canada yesterday. They moved quickly, once disturbed, and I had a hard time gently prying one of out of the grass. They are able to burrow right down out of sight. Gentle. I held it and other than sticky feet, it created no bite sensation on my skin.

… CR Cowtan, 13 August, 2007 - 7:42am