Deep Look | This Mite-y Beetle Buries the Dead to Start a Family | Deep Look @KQEDDeepLook | Uploaded 2 weeks ago | Updated 3 minutes ago
Insects called burying beetles haul mouse carcasses down into the dirt and prep them to feed their future offspring. Also known as carrion beetles, they have some stiff competition … and some help from tiny traveling mites.
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Burying beetles are able to bury a small rodent or bird. They don’t kill these animals – they just benefit from them once their time has run out.
Once the carcass is underground, the beetle – working alone or with its romantic partner – rolls it into a ball. This reduces the amount of flesh exposed to bacteria – and decay. To further preserve the flesh, the beetles drag their butts over the rolled carcass and cover it with microbes that slow the rotting.
A few days later, the eggs that the female beetle laid next to the carcass hatch into larvae. At first, mom feeds them bits of prechewed mouse. Later, they climb into the carcass to feed on it themselves.
Small hitchhiking mites, known as phoretic mites, piggyback on the beetles to the carcass. They feed on minuscule bits of the mouse and reproduce abundantly. But these mites actually help the beetles by doing away with the competition. The mites devour fly eggs that were deposited on the carcass when it was aboveground. Those eggs could have grown into maggots that would have competed with the beetle larvae for the carcass.
--- Are burying beetles helpful?
Some species can damage crops. But overall, burying beetles are useful. As nature’s undertakers, they break down dead animals, returning nutrients to the soil.
--- Are burying beetles endangered?
The yellow-bellied burying beetles (Nicrophorus guttula) we filmed at the Bodega Marine Reserve, on California’s Pacific coast, are abundant. So are most of the species of burying beetles around the world.
One species, the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) is threatened, however. This is possibly because it liked to bury passenger pigeon carcasses. Humans overhunted passenger pigeons, leading them to their extinction in 1914.
---+ Find a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1994475/this-mite-y-beetle-buries-the-dead-to-start-a-family
---+ More great Deep Look episodes:
Fire Ants Turn Into a Stinging Life Raft to Survive Floods
youtu.be/cfKr6rnpakE?si=HqQlAD1hDBLseejU
Varroa Mites Are a Honeybee’s 8-Legged Nightmare
youtu.be/69Do8tw_xy0?si=eY9zKgzjxnGUu8wq
Born Pregnant: Aphids Invade With an Onslaught of Clones
youtu.be/vrzalLssomg?si=JZ53ZFbhwfztlouv
---+ Shoutout!
🏆Congratulations🏆 to the following fans on our Deep Look Community Tab for correctly answering our GIF challenge! The correct answer is phoresis. The piggybacking mites are referred to as phoretic mites.
@governmentsteez7857
@hendricksonr6406
@TheWhiteScatterbug
@Formula_Zero_EX
@JavierCanteros
---+ Thank you to our top Patreon supporters ($10+ per month)!
Darby
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Wised1000
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Kevin Sholar
J Schumacher
Lily, Vinny, Izzy Altschuler
Drspaceman0
Jamie Edwards
BulletproofFrog
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LAUREL PRZYBYLSKI
Kevin William Walker
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Jessica Hiraoka
Laurel Przybylski
Jeremiah Sullivan
Mehdi
Mark Jobes
Carrie Mukaida
Cristen Rasmussen
Wade Tregaskis
Burt Humburg
Noreen Herrington
Roberta K Wright
Brigitte Xia
Louis O'Neill
Jellyman
Titania Juang
El Samuels
Laurel Przybylski
Companion Cube
Chris B Emrick
Kristine Wee
Karen Reynolds
SueEllen McCann
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---+ Follow Deep Look and KQED Science on social:
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---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the members of KQED.
#deeplook #buryingbeetle #phoreticmites
Insects called burying beetles haul mouse carcasses down into the dirt and prep them to feed their future offspring. Also known as carrion beetles, they have some stiff competition … and some help from tiny traveling mites.
👉Sign up for our *Nature Unseen* Newsletter here: bit.ly/NatureUnseenSignUp
SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! youtube.com/user/kqeddeeplook?sub_confirmation=1
Please join our community on Patreon! patreon.com/deeplook
DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED in San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
Burying beetles are able to bury a small rodent or bird. They don’t kill these animals – they just benefit from them once their time has run out.
Once the carcass is underground, the beetle – working alone or with its romantic partner – rolls it into a ball. This reduces the amount of flesh exposed to bacteria – and decay. To further preserve the flesh, the beetles drag their butts over the rolled carcass and cover it with microbes that slow the rotting.
A few days later, the eggs that the female beetle laid next to the carcass hatch into larvae. At first, mom feeds them bits of prechewed mouse. Later, they climb into the carcass to feed on it themselves.
Small hitchhiking mites, known as phoretic mites, piggyback on the beetles to the carcass. They feed on minuscule bits of the mouse and reproduce abundantly. But these mites actually help the beetles by doing away with the competition. The mites devour fly eggs that were deposited on the carcass when it was aboveground. Those eggs could have grown into maggots that would have competed with the beetle larvae for the carcass.
--- Are burying beetles helpful?
Some species can damage crops. But overall, burying beetles are useful. As nature’s undertakers, they break down dead animals, returning nutrients to the soil.
--- Are burying beetles endangered?
The yellow-bellied burying beetles (Nicrophorus guttula) we filmed at the Bodega Marine Reserve, on California’s Pacific coast, are abundant. So are most of the species of burying beetles around the world.
One species, the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) is threatened, however. This is possibly because it liked to bury passenger pigeon carcasses. Humans overhunted passenger pigeons, leading them to their extinction in 1914.
---+ Find a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1994475/this-mite-y-beetle-buries-the-dead-to-start-a-family
---+ More great Deep Look episodes:
Fire Ants Turn Into a Stinging Life Raft to Survive Floods
youtu.be/cfKr6rnpakE?si=HqQlAD1hDBLseejU
Varroa Mites Are a Honeybee’s 8-Legged Nightmare
youtu.be/69Do8tw_xy0?si=eY9zKgzjxnGUu8wq
Born Pregnant: Aphids Invade With an Onslaught of Clones
youtu.be/vrzalLssomg?si=JZ53ZFbhwfztlouv
---+ Shoutout!
🏆Congratulations🏆 to the following fans on our Deep Look Community Tab for correctly answering our GIF challenge! The correct answer is phoresis. The piggybacking mites are referred to as phoretic mites.
@governmentsteez7857
@hendricksonr6406
@TheWhiteScatterbug
@Formula_Zero_EX
@JavierCanteros
---+ Thank you to our top Patreon supporters ($10+ per month)!
Darby
Rachel Fenichel
Wised1000
Susan Fuhs
Hank Poppe
Walter Tschinkel
Marco Narajos
H.M. Andrew
Joan Klivans
STEPHANIE DOLE
Kevin Sholar
J Schumacher
Lily, Vinny, Izzy Altschuler
Drspaceman0
Jamie Edwards
BulletproofFrog
The Mighty X
LAUREL PRZYBYLSKI
Kevin William Walker
Oliver Wakeling
Jessica Hiraoka
Laurel Przybylski
Jeremiah Sullivan
Mehdi
Mark Jobes
Carrie Mukaida
Cristen Rasmussen
Wade Tregaskis
Burt Humburg
Noreen Herrington
Roberta K Wright
Brigitte Xia
Louis O'Neill
Jellyman
Titania Juang
El Samuels
Laurel Przybylski
Companion Cube
Chris B Emrick
Kristine Wee
Karen Reynolds
SueEllen McCann
David Deshpande
Daisuke Goto
Elizabeth Ann Ditz
Levi Cai
---+ Follow Deep Look and KQED Science on social:
tiktok.com/@deeplookofficial
patreon.com/deeplook
Instagram: instagram.com/kqedscience
Twitter: twitter.com/kqedscience
---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the members of KQED.
#deeplook #buryingbeetle #phoreticmites
