1987] 
Scott et al. — Ants and burying beetles 
329 
Table 1. Ultimate use of prey of different sizes in New Hampshire and Florida. 
Prey unaccounted for in the table (17%, 12%, 33%, and 5% for small and large prey, 
NH and FL, respectively) disappeared and were presumed to have been taken by 
vertebrates. N = sample size. 
Prey size 
(grams) 
N 
Use by: 
beetles 
ants 
flies 
New Hampshire 
8-29 
69 
45% 
28% 
10% 
30-60 
103 
41% 
2% 
46% 
Florida 
20-25 
12 
0 
67% 
0 
45-55 
36 
14% 
81% 
0 
many species have subterranean as well as epigaeic foraging habits. 
In addition to loss to ants, Nicrophorus will abandon carcasses 
that are infested with fly larvae. The mutualism between burying 
beetles and Poecilius mites that are predators of fly eggs appears to 
have evolved in the context of reducing competition with dipterans 
(Wilson 1983). Also, the cooperative burial shown by the diurnal 
Nicrophorus tomentosus may function in accelerating carcass con- 
cealment, thereby reducing prey availability to flies during the 
warmer periods of the day when fly activity is greater (unpublished 
data). We observed no behaviors in Nicrophorus that could be 
interpreted as specific to ant/ beetle competition, although their 
coordinated carcass movement (Pukowski 1933, Milne and Milne 
1976) could have the effect of decreasing the chance of ant utiliza- 
tion. Moving the carcass to a site suitable for burial might involve 
selection of appropriate soil conditions and lower ant abundance. 
The few direct interactions we observed between ant and burying 
beetles were characterized in New Hampshire (between one beetle 
and less than 10 ants) by indifference or removal of the ant which 
had come in contact with the beetle’s leg. In Florida, however, 
Nicrophorus avoided carcasses occupied by ants. 
There are 85 species of Nicrophorus worldwide, most being 
European and Asian in distribution, and there is a decrease in spe- 
cies diversity at southern latitudes in both the Old and New World 
(Peck and Anderson 1985). In the New World, fifteen species occur 
in the United States and Canada, nine in Latin America, three of 
which are endemic to South America and two endemic to Central 
America (Anderson and Peck 1985). The biogeography of silphids 
in general indicates that they are less prominent members of tropical 
