Symbiotic mites (Poecilochirus sp.) on an American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus)

Description:

Burying beetles have a symbiotic relationship with several species of mites in the genus Poecilochirus. The mites help keep the beetle and it's eggs free of the larvae of other insects such as flies commonly encountered in the carrion that these beetles feed on and nest in/under.The largest species of its genus in North America (US Fish & Wildlife Service), the American burying beetle has suffered precipitous population declines in the 20th century.www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/invertebrates/inse...