Introduction. The name of each listed species is followed by up to five sources that report the species as occurring in Michigan. Sources in all upper-case letters refer to specific insect collections: MSU-ARC refers to material held by the Michigan State University Arthropod Research Collection (data provided by G. Parsons). All others refer to collection data extracted from the Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN) database online at https://scan-bugs.org/. See the Methods page for a list of abbreviations and associated collections.
Species names preceded by a single '?' are considered probable (for occurring in Michigan) but uncertain records. Those preceded by '??' are considered possible but unlikely to occur in Michigan. Species that are fully accepted as having valid Michigan records are unmarked. Species reported in the literature that we consider to be erroneous Michigan records are in a separate list following the others.
Sikes et al. (2013) argue that the Nicrophorus species found across all of northern North America, and which has been considered conspecific with the palearctic N. vespilloides Herbst, is in fact a distinct species. They resurrected the name N. hebes (Kirby) for this species. BugGuide (as of Feb. 2022) still uses N. vespilloides.
SILPHIDAE
2 subfamilies, 2 tribes, 7 genera, 16 species
Subfamily Nicrophorinae
Tribe Nicrophorini
Nicrophorus americanus Olivier, 1790: Anderson (1982), Peck and Miller (1993), Priest (2018), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC; a Federally endangered species, once presumed extirpated in MI, but taken in pitfall trap & photographed in Muskegon Co. in 2017
Nicrophorus defodiens Mannerheim, 1846: Peck and Miller (1993), Downie and Arnett (1996), BugGuide, MSU-ARC
Nicrophorus hebes Kirby, 1837: (Sikes et al, 2016), MSU-ARC; name resurrected by Sikes et al. (2016); went as N. vespilloides for many years
Nicrophorus marginatus Fabricius, 1801: Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Nicrophorus orbicollis Say, 1825: Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Nicrophorus pustulatus Herschel, 1807: Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1916), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Nicrophorus sayi Laporte de Castelnau, 1840: Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1916), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Nicrophorus tomentosus Weber, 1801: Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1916), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Subfamily Silphinae
Tribe Silphini
??Aclypea opaca (Linnaeus, 1758): OSU:OSU; Iron Co; a European species?
Heterosilpha ramosa (Say, 1823): Peck and Miller (1993), Downie and Arnett (1996)
Necrodes surinamensis (Fabricius, 1775): Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Necrophila americana (Linnaeus, 1758): Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Oiceoptoma inaequale (Fabricius, 1781): Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Oiceoptoma noveboracense (Forster, 1771): Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
Thanatophilus lapponicus (Herbst, 1793): Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), Downie and Arnett (1996), MSU-ARC
?Thanatophilus sagax (Mannerheim, 1853): BugGuide; May 2009 Emmet Co., ID doubtful
The following species were also reported from Michigan, but we consider them to be adventive, misidentifications or other errors:
Subfamily Nicrophorinae
Tribe Nicrophorini
Nicrophorus guttula Motschulsky, 1845: Townsend (1889) as Necrophorus guttula Mots.; a western sp. that does not occur in MI
Nicrophorus obscurus Kirby, 1837: Hubbard and Schwarz (1878) as Necrophorus obscurus Kby.; a Great Plains sp. that should not be in MI
Nicrophorus vespilloides Herbst, 1783: Peck and Miller (1993), Andrews (1923), Hatch (1924), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878); what has gone as vespilloides for many years in most of N.A. is now considered hebes (Sikes et al, 2016)
This family list was last updated: March 3, 2023