notes

The fate of one of the largest and most

charismatic silphids, the American Burying

Beetle, is interesting. Until the end of the

1800s it occurred widely across eastern

North America but is now restricted to

a few sites in Rhode Island, Oklahoma,

Arkansas, and Nebraska. This catastrophic

decline remains a mystery, but suggestions

for the cause include light pollution,

land-use change, and even the extinction 

of the passenger pigeon

left | Silpha obscura

The woodlouse-like

(onisciform) larva of this

European species is a

free-living predator and

scavenger that is found

in dry environments.

northern hemisphere. There are more Silphidae

species in North America than in South America,

and more species in Britain than in Africa or

Australia, which is a striking biogeographical

anomaly compared to most beetles; in the tropics,

the carrion-feeding niche is usually occupied

by other insects, particularly members of

Scarabaeoidea, and the few silphids that do

occur there are generally found in the mountains.

above | Nicrophorus americanus The American

Burying Beetle is the largest of several similar

species that show advanced parental care, and

is listed as critically endangered.