3:00 snapshot #1400

Alex came back and picked up Jim!

Non-target organism

I set some stinging insect traps that include a liquid chamber to catch the insects. I had left them for several weeks, and much of the liquid had evaporated, but a sludgy mix of drowned flies, moths, and yellowjackets remained. I opened the trap to clean and rebait it, and it was crawling with life.


I dumped it out and out crawled several Nicrophorus beetles! These attractive orange-and-black beetles are carrion feeders, and flew into the trap to eat the dead bug sludge, and maybe lay some eggs. They are usually called "burying beetles" but Bugguide.net gives the common name "Sexton beetles" for the genus. Included in this group is the American burying beetle (not pictured here), an endangered species that is the subject of a repopulation project run by Rhode Island's Roger Williams Park Zoo.

This individual is carrying a passenger: a fairly large mite the same color as the beetle's orange spots.