Family SILPHIDAE

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Introduction

The Silphidae, a family of fairly large beetles up to 30 mm long, are commonly known as the large carrion beetles or burying beetles. The adults bury corpses of small animals by excavating the soil beneath them. The females lay the eggs in the tunnels and larvae may be fed by the female on carrion or associated fly larvae. Some species may feed on snails and others on caterpillars and crops.

The world fauna, which is predominantly Holarctic in distribution and abundance, comprises some 175 species in 15 genera. The world fauna was last reviewed by Portevin (1926), the Australian fauna by Lawrence & Britton (1994) and the Australasian fauna by Peck (2001). There are two Australasian subfamilies: the Nicrophorinae which is not known from Australia, and the Silphinae which includes three species in two genera known from Australia. Little is known of the biology of the three Australian species but most specimens are found in the moist forest regions of Australia within 300 km of the coast.

General References

King, J.E., Riegler, M., Thomas, R.G. & Spooner-Hart, R.N. 2015. Phylogenetic placement of Australian carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae). Austral Entomology

Peck, S.B. 2001. Review of the carrion beetles of Australia and New Guinea (Coleoptera: Silphidae). Australian Journal of Entomology 40: 93-101

Portevin, G. 1926. Les grandes nécrophages du globe. Encyclopédie Entomologique A 6: 1-270

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