Species Nicrophorus pustulatus

Pustulated Carrion Beetle

Nicrophorus pustulatus Herschel 1807

14-22 mm(1)

Mostly black with small elytral spots rather than bands. Elytra are smooth, lacking setae (long hairs) found in the somewhat similar N. orbicollis.

e. NA to n. AB - Map (1)(2)(3)

Mar-Oct(1)

Reported to be a brood parasite of other Nicrophorus(1). Also reported to parasitize the eggs of Black Rat Snakes, Elaphe obsoleta (Blouin-Demers & Weatherhead 2000, Trumbo 2009). The beetle larvae destroy the snake eggs, thus, the beetle would qualify as a parasitoid of the snake, a relationship usually seen only among invertebrates. In the wild, N. pustulatus is not known to exhibit the usual carcass-burying behavior of other members of its genus, though it will display some of this behavior in captivity. There is suspicion, too, that it may parasitize eggs of other reptiles, and, perhaps, birds (Trumbo 2009).

Described by Johann Dietrich Herschel (1755-1827) (Madge 1994), apparently the brother of William Herschel (Millman 1980: 209)

Blouin-Demers G., Weatherhead P.J. (2000) A novel association between a beetle and a snake: parasitism of Elaphe obsoleta by Nicrophorus pustulatus. Ecoscience 7: 395-397 (abstract).

Madge R.B. (1994) Who was Herschel? Can. Entomol. 126: 543-548 (Abstract)

Trumbo S. (2009) From gravedigger to assassin -- how the habits of one species of burying beetle have changed. Nat. Hist. 118(7): 18-19 (Full text)