Common Name - American Burying Beetle

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Silphidae

Here is an insect that many people find slightly, well, disgusting.  Not necessarily based off its looks, but maybe more so its lifecycle.  Nicrophorus americanus, AKA the American Burying beetle, is commonly known as the giant carrion beetle, reaching sizes up to a couple of inches in length.  From its genus name and the word carrion, you may be getting an idea of why people avoid these insects.

These beetles are scavengers and love to eat dead materials.  They preferred to feed off "carrion" which is another term for dead animals.  While the adults will feed off of the carrion to get their nutrition, things then take a darker turn.  The adults will mate, and the female will lay her eggs on the carrion.  The insects will then start excavating soil out from underneath the body until the body is in a hole.  They will then cover the body with soil.  When the eggs hatch, the larval beetles will have a food source.

This is not the only insects that feed on carrion.  Many fly species as well as a group of beetles known as rove beetles also have a taste for flesh.  While a little bit gross, these insects help in the recycling of nutrients back into the environment and into the soil.  Plus, they essentially hide dead animals so we don't have to look at them. Best to leave them alone because they could bite, and you don't know what they have been crawling on.