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Beetlesblack beetle with white shoulders
Today, I noticed an oddity while mowing the grass. There was an orange stink horn growing under a tree. It is a fungus that emits a smelly gooey substance and attracts flies and other insects to carry its spores off to another location. Its odor is like something dead. Along with a fly and another beetle, it also had attracted 2 large black beetles. They are flat black not shiny. They are shaped like a dung beetle, but the shoulders (middle section) are bright white with a little design. Notice that the beetle is almost as wide as it it long. Could it be a type of scarab beetle? Its head is also black and it was certainly attracted to the odor of this stink horn. Could you tell me what it is? Thanks!
Dorothy
hi Dorothy,
The beetles in question are American Carrion Beetles, Necrophila americana. You can read more about them on BugGuide. The other beetle also looks like a Carrion Beetle, but in the genus Heterosilpha.
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