Clean Up Crew

The first time I blogged about carrion beetles I wrote, somewhat erroneously, that they were part of nature's clean up crew.

The second time I blogged about carrion beetles I seemingly corrected my mistake, noting that the beetles prey on the larvae of flies, larvae that do feed on the dead creature's remains, thus working against the cleanup.

This is the third time I'm blogging about carrion beetles. And it turns out that they are part of nature's clean up crew.

I came upon this scene as I had just finished mowing the lawn, and had discovered Partridge Pea growing in the yard, while returning the mower to the quonset hut. Not good for the bird. But as we've seen before, from death comes life.

Life in this case being American Carrion Beetle larvae.

And it turns out that the larvae do eat the remains of dead creatures.

As can be seen in these images.

To recap, adult carrion beetles do not eat carrion. Carrion beetle larvae do eat carrion.

And that's the new thing we've learned today.