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1 June 2012 A Heretofore Unreported Instant Color Change in a Beetle, Nicrophorus tomentosus Weber (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
Bernd Heinrich
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Abstract

The burying beetle Nicrophorus tomentosus (Silphidae) (Tomentose Burying Beetle) achieves an instant color change from a strikingly black and orange animal to a largely yellow one. This transformation achieves a mimicry of several species of bumble-bees when they are in flight, and it is accomplished by twisting the elytra to expose their yellow undersides while simultaneously hiding the bright orange and black upper sides. The overall effect is an apparent combination of both Muellerian and Batesian mimicry of bumblebees.

Bernd Heinrich "A Heretofore Unreported Instant Color Change in a Beetle, Nicrophorus tomentosus Weber (Coleoptera: Silphidae)," Northeastern Naturalist 19(2), 345-352, (1 June 2012). https://doi.org/10.1656/045.019.0215
Published: 1 June 2012
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