Körperlänge: 12–20 mm.

Kopf: glänzend schwarz, Lamellen an der Fühlerspitze schwarz (Name!).

Thorax: Halsschild und Elytren oberseits glänzend schwarz, Flügeldecken (Elytren) mit zwei breiten, orangefarbenen Querbändern, die unregelmäßige Ränder aufweisen.

Gesetzlicher Schutz und Rote Liste

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Merkmale

Verbreitung

In Europa von Irland, Großbritannien, Skandinavien und Finnland südlich bis Spanien, Italien und dem Peloponnes sowie östlich bis Japan; in Nordamerika in Alaska, Kanada und den nördlichen USA (GBIF; PESI).

Lebensweise

Lebensräume

Bestandssituation

Literatur

• Capodeanu-Nägler, A., E. Keppner, H. Vogel, M. Ayasse, A.-K. Eggert, S. K. Sakaluk & S. Steiger 2016: From facultative to obligatory parental care: Interspecific variation in offspring dependency on post-hatching care in burying beetles. – Science Reports 6: 29323.
• Conrad, T., M. M. Mair, J. Müller, P. Richter, S. Schödel, A.-K. Wezstein & S. Steiger 2024: The impact of acoustic signalling on offspring performance varies among three biparentally caring species. – Animal Behaviour 217: 13–20.
• Duarte, A., M. Welch, C. Swannack, J. Wagner & R. M. Kilner 2018: Strategies for managing rival bacterial communities: Lessons from burying beetles. – Journal of Animal Ecology 87: 414–427.
• Huber, P., S. Bartl, J. Schneider, S. Steiger 2025: Better together: Offspring benefits from siblings both in the absence and presence of parents. – The American Naturalist
• Keppner, E. M. & S. Steiger 2021: Males benefit personally from family life: evidence from a wild burying beetle population. – Behavioral Ecology 32 (5): 912–918.
• Potticary, A. L., M. C. Belk, J. C. Creighton, M. Ito, R. Kilner, J. Komdeur, N. J. Royle, D. R. Rubenstein, M. Schrader, S.-F. Shen, D. S. Sikes, P. T. Smiseth, R. Smith, S. Steiger, S. T. Trumbo & A. J. Moore 2024: Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetle behavior (Staphylinidae: Silphinae). – Ecology and Evolution 14: e70175.
• Prokop, P., J. Balcečík, R. Masarovič & Z. Provazník 2025: Examining personalities and behavioural syndromes in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides Herbst, 1783. –Ecology and Evolution 15 (7): e71718.
• Sahm, J., T. Conrad, L. Scheu & S. Steiger 2023: Brood size, food availability, and body size affects male care decisions and offspring performance. – Ecology and Evolution 13: e10183.
• Schumacher, R. 1973: Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Stridulationsapparate einheimischer Necrophorus-Arten (Necrophorus humator Ol., N. investigator Zetterst., N. vespilloides Herbst) (Insecta, Coleoptera). – Zeitschrift für Morphologie 75: 65–75.
• Shukla, S. P., C. Plata, M. Reichelt, S. Steiger, D.G. Heckel, M. Kaltenpoth, A. Vilcinskas & H. Vogel 2018: Microbiome-assisted carrion preservation aids larval development in a burying beetle. – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115 (44): 11274–11279
• Steiger, S. 2013: Bigger mothers are better mothers: disentangling size-related prenatal and postnatal maternal effects. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280: 20131225.
• Steiger, S., K. Peschke, W. Francke & J. K. Müller 2007: The smell of parents: breeding status influences cuticular hydrocarbon pattern in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274 (1622): 2211–2220.
• Steiger, S., R. Franz, A.-K. Eggert & J. K. Müller 2008: The coolidge effect, individual recognition and selection for distinctive cuticular signatures in a burying beetle. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275: 1831–1838.
• Steiger, S., S. Whitlow, K. Peschke & K. Müller 2009: Surface chemicals inform about sex and breeding status in the biparental burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. – Ethology 115: 178–185.
• Vogel, H., S. Shukla, T. Engl, B. Weiss, R. Fischer, S. Steiger, D. G. Heckel, M. Kaltenpoth & A. Vilcinskas 2017: The digestive and defensive basis of carcass utilization by the burying beetle and its microbiota. – Nature Communications 8: 15186.
• Wang, Y. & D. E. Rozen 2018: Gut microbiota in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides, provide colonization resistance against larval bacterial pathogens. – Ecology and Evolution 8: 1646–1654.
• Weithmann, S., C. v. Hoermann, G. Degasperi, K. Brandt, S. Steiger & M. Ayasse 2021: Temporal variability of the rove beetle (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) community on small vertebrate carrion and its potential use for forensic entomology. – Forensic Science International 323: 110792.