Just when I think life cant get any weirder... The other day I came across a Burying Beetle on a Boneset plant. Burying beetles spend most of their time on the ground burying the bodies small vertebrates, removing the fur or feathers, and fashioning the corpse into a meatball. (Kaufmans Field Guide to Insects of North America) They use the meatball to feed themselves and their beetle offspring. They often carry mites that use them as a means of transportation. When they arrive at the dead body of a vertebrate the mites hop off and eat fly eggs that are on the corpse. In this mutual relationship the mites get a meal and the burying beetle doesnt have to worry about the fly eggs hatching and devouring their meatball. Amazing stuff! Note: IN the last picture I overexposed the area under the beetles chin so it is easier to see the mites.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 01:43:01 +0000
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