1987] 
Scott et al. — Ants and burying beetles 
327 
beetles were captured. Studies were conducted June- August 1984, 
1985 in New Hampshire and May-July 1986 in Florida. 
Results 
Burying beetles were readily caught in pitfall traps at both loca- 
tions. In New Hampshire, 662 beetles of all four above-mentioned 
common species were trapped in 525 trap-nights in 1984 and 457 
beetles were trapped in 525 trap-nights in 1985. Ants ( Camponotus 
novaboracensis, Acanthomyops sp. and Aphaenogaster spp) were 
found in less than 2% of the pitfall traps and always in low numbers 
(less than 10). At the southern site 441 beetles were trapped in 794 
trap-nights. Ninety-five percent of these were N. carolinus which 
were trapped in equal numbers in the forest and in the field. N. 
orbicollis were captured primarily in the forest. Ant/ burying beetle 
interactions were related to habitat also, reflecting the primarily 
open-field distribution of the imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta. 
In the forest S. invicta was found in 33% of the pitfalls and other ant 
species in 9% (N = 360); in the field 61% of the pitfalls were occu- 
pied by fire ants and 6% by other ant species (N = 434). Information 
on ant abundance from the pitfall traps at the two study sites sim- 
ilarly indicates a greater potential for ant interference at the Florida 
site. When ants were present in pitfalls, 94% of traps contained more 
than approximately 100 workers. Other ant species ( Camponotus 
abdominalis floridanus, Crematogaster clara) were found in pitfall 
traps in small numbers (less than 10). Pheidole dentata, P. moerens, 
Crematogaster ashmeadi and Conomyrma sp. were found at baits in 
the same habitat but not in the pitfall traps. 
There were striking differences between sites in New Hampshire 
and Florida in the percentage of mice or chicks available that were 
successfully buried by Nicrophorus spp. (42% vs 10%, N = 172 and 
48, respectively, t s — 4.70, P < 0.001, angular transformation test 
for the equality of two percentages). In New Hampshire, N. orbicol- 
lis was the dominant species and accounted for 55% of the carrion 
buried. In Florida, only N. carolinus successfully buried prey items 
experimentally offered. Only 12% of all prey were ultimately utilized 
by ants at the northern site. Generally, only a few ants were present 
at a time with the exception of two or three small prey which were 
completely overrun with Acanthomyops. In contrast, significantly 
more (77%) of the prey at the southern site were utilized by ants, 
