AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 43
right habitat or there's not a prey
base or the winters are different or
whatever – we can't say the beetles are
doing very well because it's still been
eliminated from more than 90 percent
of its historic range," Hoback said.
"A lot of our research has focused on
why the beetle still lives here, how to
conserve this population and eventually
get beetle established elsewhere and
move it from endangered to threatened
or even recovered."
Biologists are attempting another
reintroduction of American burying
beetles in Ohio this year. In June, they
collected 10 pairs from the Sandhills,
and they will gather 20 more in August.
Initial attempts in Ohio used beetles
from Oklahoma. Believing they needed
beetles more adapted to cold, they
received 30 pairs collected in Nebraska
in September of 2013, but that attempt
also failed. They hope the timing of
the collection will have some success,
and that the pairs collected in June
might even breed there. Through his
experience with another endangered
species, the Salt Creek tiger beetle,
Harms said he's found that "You've
got to be willing to try new things and
think outside the box in the world of
species reintroduction."
Research will continue, and Hoback
hopes someday it might even unlock
the secrets of the secretions the beetles
use to preserve the carrion they bury.
"They could potentially contribute
antibiotics for humans or livestock,
or a way to preserve meat at room
temperature," he said.
For now, those who work with the
insect appreciate the value it already
contributes: removing a breeding
ground for flies that can transmit
disease, and the way they do it.
"With the burying beetle, those
carcasses turn into more burying
beetles," he said. "It's crazy to think
about the entire life cycle."
Or maybe, if you have a queasy
stomach, it's better not to. ■
Commission biologists Adam Kester (left) and Justin Haahr check pitfall traps set for American burying beetles at Wapiti WMA
in Lincoln County. The area, located in the Loess Canyons south of Maxwell, was purchased in part with federal funds to
benefit the insect, and is also home to elk, deer, turkeys and other wildlife.
