“In the margins”, 2025
The margined burying beetle (Nicrophorus marginatus) is a carrion beetle native to North America. I won’t go into much detail here in case you’re feeling kinda squeamish, but the aptly named burying beetles raise their young in “crypts”; formed from the flesh of dead vertebrates that the adults processed and buried. Both parents then stick around and raise their grubs all while defending their fleshy nursery from competitors until the larvae pupate. It’s not often that non-eusocial insects care for their young, so it’s really neat that burying beetles take such great care in ensuring their grubs make it to beetle-hood! 🪲🦴🍄
I’m solidly back in my beetle era, so my page may be pretty beetle-heavy for a bit. I’ve also been having a blast with ecosystem/insect lifecycle pieces as well lately and have a few more on the back burner that I’m slowly chipping away at! Are there any particular insects/invertebrates/ecosystem scenes you’d really like to see me illustrate? Let me know!
