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Oiceoptoma noveboracense This beetle is one of the many little critters finishing off what was left of a white-tailed deer.<br /> So much of the insides of the deer had been eaten away that, when I first saw it, I thought somebody had left a costume of some sort on the ground. It wasn&#039;t until I got a little closer that I realized it was a deer carcass. Animal,Arthropod,Beetle,Carrion Beetle,Coleoptera,Geotagged,Insect,Mendon Ponds County Park,Nature,New York State,Oiceoptoma,Oiceoptoma noveboracense,Rochester,Silphidae,Spring,United States,United States of America Click/tap to enlarge PromotedSpecies introCountry intro

Oiceoptoma noveboracense

This beetle is one of the many little critters finishing off what was left of a white-tailed deer.
So much of the insides of the deer had been eaten away that, when I first saw it, I thought somebody had left a costume of some sort on the ground. It wasn't until I got a little closer that I realized it was a deer carcass.

    comments (10)

  1. View morpheme's profile
    morpheme
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    Mendon Ponds! we used to go there all of the time. I went to college at RIT :) Posted 10 years ago
    1. View Joe Spandrusyszyn's profile
      Joe Spandrusyszyn
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      Good park, and good school! I also graduated from RIT. Posted 10 years ago
      1. View morpheme's profile
        morpheme
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        '95 Biomedical Photographic Communications here - the hubby's a '95EEE Posted 10 years ago
        1. View Joe Spandrusyszyn's profile
          Joe Spandrusyszyn
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          Before my time. 2008 SE. Posted 10 years ago
  3. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
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    What is it sitting on, is that another animal? Posted 10 years ago
    1. View Joe Spandrusyszyn's profile
      Joe Spandrusyszyn
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      It's on what's left of a white-tailed deer.

      I've got a bunch more shots of these beetles that show the deer. I plan on sharing a link to the Flickr album after I finish going through them for anyone interested, but probably won't put them up here directly to help protect the stomachs of JD members.       Posted 10 years ago
    2. View Joe Spandrusyszyn's profile
      Joe Spandrusyszyn
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      More shots of the bugs, the deer carcass, and a different deer carcass in the same park:

      https://flic.kr/s/aHsk6MEKRD       Posted 10 years ago
      1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
        Ferdy Christant
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        Thanks Joe, do you know if these are natural deaths? Posted 10 years ago
        1. View Joe Spandrusyszyn's profile
          Joe Spandrusyszyn
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          I don't really know much about how they died.
          Neither was close to a road, and there isn't supposed to be any hunting in the park as far as I know. There also aren't any nearby populations of any of their predators.
          My coworker said he saw a family of deer in the park that looked very hungry... so my guess is malnutrition played the biggest role in their deaths, but I have no way of knowing for sure.           Posted 10 years ago
          1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
            Ferdy Christant
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            Malnutrition could very well be the cause. I believe that in the wild, each season 25% of the individuals in a herd die because of it, this is true for many mammal species. Posted 10 years ago

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The Margined Carrion Beetle

"Oiceoptoma noveboracense" is a member of the family Silphidae, or carrion beetles, which feed on decaying organic matter such as dead animals. Its common name is the margined carrion beetle, from the orange-red margins on the pronotum, which are helpful when identifying this species.

Info 4 0
Similar species: Beetles
Species identified by Joe Spandrusyszyn
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By Joe Spandrusyszyn

All rights reserved
Uploaded Apr 13, 2015. Captured Apr 12, 2015 16:26 in 4200 Clover Street, Honeoye Falls, NY 14472, USA.
country flag of United States of America Explore United States of America 39,925 9,640 8
  • NEX-6
  • f/6.3
  • 1/400s
  • ISO500
  • 210mm