''Nicrophorus vestigator'' is a species of beetle belonging to the family
Silphidae
Silphidae is a family of beetles that are known commonly as large carrion beetles, carrion beetles or burying beetles. There are two subfamilies: Silphinae and Nicrophorinae. Nicrophorines are sometimes known as sexton beetles. The number of sp ...
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Description
''Nicrophorus vestigator'' can reach a length of about . The basic color of the body is black, with two wide transversal orange stripes on the elytra. These beetles have large club-like antennae equipped with black and yellow tips. The legs are strong. The last three abdominal segments protrude beyond the elytra.
[Artfacta]
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Like other burying beetles they bury the carcasses of small vertebrates such as birds and mice as a food source for their larvae. Larval development takes place during the summer, and the fully formed individuals can be found mainly in May–June and in August.[
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Distribution
This species is present in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
and in the Near East
The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
.Fauna europaea
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Bibliography
* Sikes, Derek S., Ronald B. Madge, and Alfred F. Newton (2002) A catalog of the Nicrophorinae (Coleoptera: Silphidae) of the world, Zootaxa, no. 65
* Baranowski, R. 1982. Intressanta skalbaggsfynd 6. Ent. Tidskr.103: 130–136.
* Hansen, V. 1968. Biller XXV. Adselbiller, stumpbiller m.fl. Danmarks Fauna 77.
* Fabre, J.-H. 1925 Souvenirs Entomologiques Volume 6 Chapitre VII
References
Silphidae
Beetles of North America
Beetles described in 1807
{{Silphidae-stub