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 its larvae.
Read more about American Carrion Beetle: Range, Appearance, Lifecycle, Mutualism, In Popular Culture
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“Not, I’ll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee:”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)
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—Primo Levi (1919–1987)