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NOTE: As of 2014, the California Beetle Project page is no longer updated. The original database and list of California beetles in the menu on the left will remain for the time being, but the information contained within is not necessarily current. SBMNH Entomology Curator Matthew L. Gimmel has divided up the function of the original database into two conceptual halves:

  1. The SBMNH Entomology specimen-level database, including all SBMNH beetle specimens included in the CBP database, which is now available (and ever-growing) through the ecdysis portal at https://serv.biokic.asu.edu/ecdysis/

  2. A literature- (and available specimen-)based checklist.
    3. of the Coleoptera of California, which is being revised and re-compiled by Dr. Gimmel, and, as of January 2017, is about 85% complete.



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Last updated 01/16/2009

 California Beetle Project > Species Pages > Necrophilus hydrophiloides

Classification

Scientific name: Necrophilus hydrophiloides Guérin-Méneville
    Order Coleoptera
    Superfamily Hydrophiloidea
    Family Agyrtidae

Images (click to enlarge)

What it looks like: 5-13 mm in length. It's body is reddish-brown, rounded and flattened, with elytra that have striae, or shallow grooves, that run lengthwise in even distribution down the elytra.

Where you'll find it: These beetles are native to California. They are also found in coastal regions as far north as the Alaskan panhandle and western Canada.

Natural History: They are scavengers in wet coastal forests who feed on decaying organic material, recycling nutrients back into the soil. You'll see them out and about in the rainy season, from November through May.

This page was written by Maren Farnum, a 2005 California Beetle Project intern.



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