Carrion Beetles

About halfway down Goulding Creek yesterday, I came upon this little tableau. A dead male turtle was on its back, with lots of large carrion beetles in attendance.

The adult carrion beetles, in the subfamily to which this species belongs, tend to feed on fly larvae from eggs previously deposited. They’ll also lay their own eggs too, and the beetle larvae will feed off the carcass. The flies and fly larvae therefore represent competition.

Credit: Wayne Hughes, May 2009; photographed in the rolling hills of the Wolfskin district of the northeast Georgia Piedmont; used by permission. [source].

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