Nicrophorus interruptus
For the species misidentified by Gaspard Auguste Brullé in 1832 and again by Gistel in 1857, declared a new species under the name Nicrophorus basalis, but later corrected, see Nicrophorus vestigator
Nicrophorus interruptus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Family: | Silphidae |
Genus: | Nicrophorus |
Species: | N. interruptus |
Binomial name | |
Nicrophorus interruptus Stephens, 1830 | |
Synonyms | |
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Nicrophorus interruptus is a species of burying beetles or sexton beetles belonging to the family Silphidae subfamily Nicrophorinae.
These beetles are present in most of Europe, in the East Palearctic ecozone, in the Near East and in North Africa.
In Nicrophorus interruptus both the male and female parents take care of the brood, quite rare behaviour among insects. The prospective parents begin to dig a hole below the carcass, forming the crypt, where the carcass will remain until the flesh has been completely consumed. Although the larvae are able to feed themselves, both parents also feed them by regurgitated liquid food. The adult beetles continue to protect the larvae, which take several days to mature.. The final-stage larvae migrate into the soil and pupate, transforming from small white larvae to fully formed adult beetles.
Subspecies
- Nicrophorus interruptus var. algiricus Pasquet, 1916
- Nicrophorus interruptus var. brunnipes Gradl, 1882
- Nicrophorus interruptus var. centrimaculatus Reitter, 1895
- Nicrophorus interruptus var. nigricans Pasquet, 1916
- Nicrophorus interruptus var. pasqueti Pic, 1917
- Nicrophorus interruptus var. trimaculatus Gradl, 188
- Nicrophorus interruptus var. trinotatus Reitter, 1911
References
http://collections2.eeb.uconn.edu/nicroweb/PDFs/Sikes_et_al_2002.pdf
- Derek S. Sikes, Ronald B. Madge & Alfred F. Newton (2002): A Catalog of the Nicrophorinae (Coleoptera : Silphidae) of the World, Magnolia Press