Diversity, habitat preferences, and seasonality of Kansas carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)

Pitfall trapping, blacklighting, and examination of institutional collections produced records for 13 species of Silphidae in Kansas: Necrodes surinamensis (Fabricius), Necrophila americana (Linnaeus), Nicrophorus americanus Olivier, Ni. carolinus (Linnaeus), Ni. marginatus Fabricius, Ni. mexicanus Matthews, Ni. orbicollis (Say), Ni. pustulatus Herschel, Ni. tomentosus Weber, Oiceoptoma inaequale (Fabricius), O. noveboracense (Forster), Thanatophilus lapponicus (Herbst), and T. truncatus (Say). No current populations of the federally endangered silphid, Ni. americanus or Ni. mexicanus were documented in Kansas, and records for both species are more than 50 years old. Data based on 2007 specimens resulting from 1709 pitfall trapnights in 23 Kansas counties are standardized and used in an assessment of habitat preferences and seasonality among the encountered taxa. Four species (Ni. carolinus, Ni. marginatus, T. lapponicus, and T. truncatus) are nearly restricted to open prairies with sandy soil, 2 species (Ne. americana and O. noveboracense) are dominant in woodlands, and 3 species (Ni. orbicollis, Ni. pustulatus, and O. inaequale) occur in both wooded and open habitats. Necrodes surinamensis and Ni. pustulatus have bimodal peaks of activity in Kansas. Adults of O. inaequale and O. noveboracense were not captured in Kansas after mid-summer. Necrophila americana, Ni. marginatus, Ni. orbicollis, and Ni. tomentosus occur in Kansas from spring to late summer.