Cleaner Killer - _TNY_7827
The red-breasted carrion beetle (Oiceoptoma thoracicum) is quite the strong flier and good at picking up the scent of an animal carcass.
They are thus often the first beetles to arrive at a dead animal.
Upon arrival, they first find a mate and pair up and then they will chase off any other beetles interested in it. The female lays her eggs under the carcass and the larva will hatch within a couple of days, around the same time as the first fly maggots emerge.
The obvious conclusion would be that these help eat and break down the carrion - but it is actually the opposite. Both the beetle larvae and the adult beetles instead prey on the fly maggots and other insects drawn to the remains.
Cleaner Killer - _TNY_7827
The red-breasted carrion beetle (Oiceoptoma thoracicum) is quite the strong flier and good at picking up the scent of an animal carcass.
They are thus often the first beetles to arrive at a dead animal.
Upon arrival, they first find a mate and pair up and then they will chase off any other beetles interested in it. The female lays her eggs under the carcass and the larva will hatch within a couple of days, around the same time as the first fly maggots emerge.
The obvious conclusion would be that these help eat and break down the carrion - but it is actually the opposite. Both the beetle larvae and the adult beetles instead prey on the fly maggots and other insects drawn to the remains.