---
title: "American Carrion Beetle"
description: "Necrophila americana — Owady i pająki. The American carrion beetle (Necrophila americana, formerly Silpha americana) is a North American beetle of the family Silphidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pl/animal/american-carrion-beetle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# American Carrion Beetle

> Necrophila americana — Owady i pająki. The American carrion beetle (Necrophila americana, formerly Silpha americana) is a North American beetle of the family Silphidae.

- Scientific name: *Necrophila americana*
- Category: `insects` (Owady i pająki)
- Habitats: `forest` (Las)
- iNaturalist observations: 23854
- Wikidata: [Q469602](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q469602)
- iNaturalist taxon: [81746](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/81746)

## Names

- en: American Carrion Beetle
- de: Amerikanischer Aaskäfer
- fr: Silphe d'Amérique

## Countries with the most observations

US (17758), CA (4973)

## Summary

The American carrion beetle (Necrophila americana, formerly Silpha americana) is a North American beetle of the family Silphidae. It lays its eggs in, and its larvae consume, raw flesh (particularly that of dead animals) and fungi. The larvae and adults also consume fly larvae and the larvae of other carrion beetles that compete for the same food sources as their larvae. They prefer to live in marshy and woody habitats. Necrophila americana emerge from their larval state in the early summer. A cuckoo bumble bee, Bombus ashtoni, displays close mimicry with the American carrion beetle. They are important in forensic…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_carrion_beetle

## Photo

![American Carrion Beetle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/american-carrion-beetle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Robert Simcox · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/220554241

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/american-carrion-beetle?lang=pl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).