Necrobia violacea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Chapman, Eric G., Leavengood, John M. & Dupuis, Julian R., 2025, The Cleridae and Thanerocleridae of eastern North America, with illustrated keys, updated distributions, and special emphasis on the Kentucky fauna, Zootaxa 5639 (1), pp. 1-88 : 47-48

Necrobia violacea (Linnaeus, 1758) ; Cleridae : Korynetinae (no tribal assignment)

Illustrations: Plate 3-C. Necrobia key, couplet 1-A

Distribution: Transcontinental in North America . GBIF data show a similar distribution in North America to N. rufipes but shifted north: eastern PQ to MD to northern CA to far western AK. A western Palaearctic native.

Kentucky counties (Map 18): Franklin (2), Letcher (1), Magoffin (1). The few Kentucky specimens were collected in the eastern half of the state ( Interior Plateau and Central Appalachians ecoregions) .

Years: 1997 (1), 1999 (2), 2015 (1)

Months: April (2), June (2)

Collections (4): BugGuide (1), CEWC (3)

Natural History: Like its congeners, this species is associated with the skin and bones of animal carcasses (birds, fish, mammals, reptiles) where it is a predator of dermestid larvae ( Knull, 1951) and flesh fly ( Sarcophaga ) larvae and pupae—it bores into the puparium, devours its contents, reseals the puparium and pupates inside it ( El-Mallakh 1978). Gill (2005) noted that N. violacea first arrives at carcasses weeks later than N. rufipes in Manitoba, preferring drier carcasses, and Dorshorst & Young (2008) reported that it was much more common at carrion than N. rufipes in Wisconsin, where they were most frequently found on deer carcasses, usually from the later, drier stages of decomposition. This preference for drier carcasses was also observed in the Czech Republic ( Kocarek 2003) and Portugal ( Castro et al. 2013). It has also been collected at lights ( Leavengood 2008b).

Mimicry: Thought to be a chrysomelid mimic (Menier 1985).

Note: In a recent taxonomic treatment, all species in the genus Isohydnocera were designated to either Neohydnocera or Phyllobaenus ( Leavengood 2025) . Most species in the genus Neohydnocera are thought to be ant mimics ( Mawdsley 1994).