Many kinds of decaying organic materials are microhabitats commonly inhabited by a wide variety of beetles. In these materials, some beetles, such as the staphylinids, are predators. Others are scavengers, with both adults and larvae feeding directly upon the decaying material. Early entomologists considered most beetles sharing the scavenging habit of feeding on carrion to be members of a single family, the Silphidae (sensu lato), but subsequent studies have indicated that tisi is an unnatural assemblage. The group has now been split into smaller units and each unit has been given separate family status.
The aim of this book is threefold:(1)to provide a means of identifying adults of the various species of the families Silphidae and Agyrtidae and larvae of the various species of silphids known to occur in Canada and Alaska; (2) to review available biological information; and (3) to document the distributions of all these species in North America.
The aim of this book is threefold:(1)to provide a means of identifying adults of the various species of the families Silphidae and Agyrtidae and larvae of the various species of silphids known to occur in Canada and Alaska; (2) to review available biological information; and (3) to document the distributions of all these species in North America.