Common sexton beetle
The common sexton beetle is a black beetle with two bright orange bands across its back. It is a burying beetle: it finds small dead animals and buries them in the ground. There it raises its babies, and both mum and dad help.
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Fun facts
Its orange and black colours warn birds that it is not a tasty snack.
Both the mother and the father look after their young, which is rare for insects.
Its wing cases are short and square, so the tip of its body sticks out behind them.
Its feelers are completely black, which helps tell it apart from its cousins.
It makes a special liquid that fights germs, which keeps its food and nest clean.
Most asked questions about Common sexton beetle
?What does a sexton beetle eat?
Dead animals. It buries small ones and uses them as food for its larvae.
?Is the sexton beetle dangerous?
No, it is harmless. It only makes a smelly liquid when it feels threatened.
?How big is a common sexton beetle?
It is between 12 and 20 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nicrophorus vespilloides
- Named by
- Herbst, 1783
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Silphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Silphidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Nicrophorus vespilloides (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Holger Gröschl. CC BY-SA 2.0 de, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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