Europe and temperate Asia
Fine-art photographic collection
Thanatophilus sinuatus
A carrion beetle whose temperature-controlled development can turn a corpse into a biological clock.
About this species
Thanatophilus sinuatus(Fabricius, 1775)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Thanatophilus sinuatus is a widespread silphine carrion beetle. Adults and larvae feed on decomposing vertebrate remains, and detailed laboratory development data make the species increasingly useful in forensic entomology.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Silphidae · Thanatophilus
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe and temperate AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Woodland, grassland, farmland and other habitats where carrion occurs.
Adults locate carrion by scent; several individuals and larvae may aggregate on one resource.
Carrion and associated decaying animal material.
Solitary but strongly gregarious at carrion.
What makes this species remarkable?
Forensic experiments have measured development through every life stage at controlled temperatures, allowing insect age to be converted into an estimate of elapsed time.
Each stage has a characteristic thermal requirement, so accumulated degree-hours can reveal how long larvae or pupae have been developing.
It is among the most widespread and abundant European Thanatophilus species and can remain important after the earliest blow-fly wave has passed.