Sarcosaprophagous
Guides
Necrobia ruficollis
ham beetle, red-shouldered ham beetle, red-necked bacon beetle
Necrobia ruficollis is a small, metallic beetle in the family Cleridae with cosmopolitan distribution. It is primarily associated with decomposing animal matter, including dried and smoked meats, animal skins, and cheese. The species is forensically significant, appearing on cadavers during advanced decay and skeletonization stages, and serves as an important indicator for postmortem interval estimation in cases involving longer time frames.