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Mixed Carrion Beetles (Order Coleoptera)
Invertebrates Around Las Vegas, Wildlife Around Las Vegas
Beetles (Order Coleoptera)

General: Beetles (Order Coleoptera) are abundant and exceptionally diverse, far too diverse for me to identify them all. On this page, I've put a collection of beetles collected from underneath a dead Turkey Vulture, emphasizing "looking at beetles" rather than "obsessing over identifying" them.

Turkey Vulture
Dead Turkey Vulture. Vultures eat dead things, cleaning up the world for the rest of us. But what happens when a Turkey Vulture dies? In this case, the beetles come to do the job.
Hide Beetle (Dermestes maculatus)
Beetles found under dead Turkey Vulture

The speckled ones look like Hide Beetles (Dermestes maculatus).

Family: Skin Beetles (Dermestidae)

Hide Beetle (Dermestes maculatus) Hide Beetle (Dermestes maculatus)
Common Carrion Beetle (Dermestes marmoratus)
Beetles found under dead Turkey Vulture

Larger ones with white/gray are Common Carrion Beetle (Dermestes marmoratus).

Family: Skin Beetles (Dermestidae)

Common Carrion Beetle (Dermestes marmoratus)
Common Carrion Beetle (Dermestes marmoratus)
Common Carrion Beetle (Dermestes marmoratus)
Common Carrion Beetle (Dermestes marmoratus)
Black Burying Beetle (Nicrophorus nigrita)
Beetles found under dead Turkey Vulture

All black ones look like Black Burying Beetles (Nicrophorus nigrita).

Family: Burying and Carrion Beetles (Silphidae)

Black Burying Beetle (Nicrophorus nigrita)
Black Burying Beetles (Nicrophorus nigrita)
Black Burying Beetle (Nicrophorus nigrita)
Black Burying Beetles (Nicrophorus nigrita)

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
copyright; Last updated 240512

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