American burying beetle
The American burying beetle is a big shiny black beetle with bright orange-red patches. It finds small dead animals and buries them underground. Then mom and dad beetle raise their babies together, which is very rare for insects.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is American burying beetle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Both parents feed and look after their young, a bit like birds do.
It is a strong flier and can travel up to a kilometre in one night.
It once lived in 35 states, but now it survives in only a few of them.
Scientists raise these beetles in labs and set them free on islands to help them come back.
In cold weather it buries itself in the soil and waits for spring.
Most asked questions about American burying beetle
?Why is the American burying beetle endangered?
It has lost much of its home, and there are fewer small dead animals for it to raise its young on.
?What does the American burying beetle eat?
Dead animals. It buries them and feeds them to its babies.
?How big is the American burying beetle?
It is about 2.5 to 4.5 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nicrophorus americanus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Silphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Silphidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Giant carrion beetle
Where the facts come from
- Nicrophorus americanus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Blocky1OOO. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Stag beetle
Hercules beetle
Common glow-worm
Goliath beetle
Cockchafer
Mealworm beetle
King baboon spider
Giant peacock moth
Texas brown tarantula
Green huntsman spider
Tricoloured bumblebee
Ailanthus webworm_%E2%80%94_walking.jpg){kind=link}