Life Cycle
N. orbicollis is an endopterygote with complete metamorphosis; the life cycle consists of an egg, larval, pupal, and adult stage. Male and female beetles are attracted to carrion for reproduction and feeding. Male N. orbicollis attract females by emitting pheromones but they will only do so when a carcass is present. After mating, the female will lay her eggs from about 12–48 hours after discovering a suitable carcass. Eggs hatch around 56 hours after oviposition. Once larvae complete development they pupate in the soil in 6–8 days. The size of a carcass affects the time span an egg is laid to when the larvae disperse and so also affects the time frame the parent beetles spend taking care of their young. In general, the time spent from egg burial to larval dispersal is less on smaller carcasses. N. orbicollis males will also spend less time taking care of their offspring when on small carcasses. Larvae of most silphid species are dependent upon parental feeding but can sometimes feed directly from a carcass. N. orbicollis larvae, however, are extremely dependent upon their parents for feeding and will die before they develop to the second instar without parental care. Offspring mass is positively correlated with longer maternal care. N. orbicollis is nocturnal and must compete with dipterous larvae for oviposition locations on carcasses.
Read more about this topic: Nicrophorus Orbicollis
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or cycle:
“Virtue and vice suppose the freedom to choose between good and evil; but what can be the morals of a woman who is not even in possession of herself, who has nothing of her own, and who all her life has been trained to extricate herself from the arbitrary by ruse, from constraint by using her charms?... As long as she is subject to man’s yoke or to prejudice, as long as she receives no professional education, as long as she is deprived of her civil rights, there can be no moral law for her!”
—Flora Tristan (1803–1844)
“Only mediocrities progress. An artist revolves in a cycle of masterpieces, the first of which is no less perfect than the last.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)