Orkney Image Library

A sexton beetle it is! Sexton beetles are found on carrion and often bury small dead animals (rodents, birds, etc.) as a food store for themselves and their offspring. The beetles can fly long distances to locate carrion, presumably attracted by smell. When the beetles find a small carcass, they creep underneath and excavate the soil below, pushing it to the sides and using their jaws to cut away obstacles, such as grass roots. In this way the dead mouse or bird slowly sinks into the earth until it is completely buried. The female beetle lays her eggs in the soil, close to the buried carcass, and remains there until the eggs hatch. There appears to be some degree of parental care, in that the female beetle regurgitates a brown liquid of partly digested food for the young larvae, until they are large enough to eat the carrion on their own. The fully grown larvae burrow into the soil to pupate, away from the remains of the carcass (if any), and eventually emerge as new adult beetles to start the cycle over again. Thus, sexton beetles are beneficial as scavengers by helping to clear away the corpses of dead animals.

Yuk! I feel nauseous!

I had one in the house about a week ago, they are covered with hundreds of reddish brown mites and when they die these mites pile out of the corpse, its like something out of alien.

Are you sure it's no one o' Kenny's fishing flies? Have one of these in a display cabinet at work Viv. You are correct in your identification.