''Necrobia ruficollis'', the ham beetle, red-shouldered ham beetle, or red-necked bacon beetle, is a mostly

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

beetle in the family

Cleridae Cleridae are a family of beetles of the superfamily Cleroidea. They are commonly known as checkered beetles. The family Cleridae has a worldwide distribution, and a variety of habitats and feeding preferences. Cleridae have many niches and feed ...

with a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...

Description

''Necrobia ruficollis'' is long, and is mostly a metallic black or dark blue colour. Its thorax and

legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element ...

and the bases of the elytra are reddish brown.

Ecology

It feeds on dead animals, including

dried Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be consider ...

and smoked meats and animal skins, as well as on

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

. It is frequently found in

cadaver A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...

s in the later stages of decomposition, and is thus useful in forensic entomology.

Latreille

French zoologist Pierre André Latreille was imprisoned in 1793 under threat of execution, after failing to swear allegiance to the state following the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. When the prison's doctor inspected the prisoners, he was surprised to find Latreille scrutinising a beetle on the dungeon floor. When Latreille explained that it was a rare insect, having identified it as ''Necrobia ruficollis'', the physician was impressed and sent the insect to a 15-year-old local naturalist, Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent. Bory de St.-Vincent knew Latreille's work, and managed to obtain the release of Latreille and one of his cellmates. All the other inmates were dead within one month.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6985636 Cleridae Beetles described in 1775 Cosmopolitan arthropods Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius