Ecology

Species of the family generally avoid detection and predation due to their covering of soil or debris and their ability to remain motionless for long periods when disturbed. They tend to be local and rare and found in small numbers. Many species occur in drier and often sandy habitats and some are known regularly from mammal and bird nests where they feed on remains or the regurgitated pellets of raptors. Most feed on dry animal remains; horn, bones, fur, hide and feathers etc. and are often the last species to arrive at a carcass. Conversely, they may be the first to arrive at charred or burned corpses, feeding and exposing fresh tissue that is colonized by other carrion feeders. Females excavate shallow tunnels beneath a food source in which they lay eggs allowing the larvae access to the food. A succession of females may visit a food source over a period of time so that adults and larvae may be found feeding together. When disturbed the larvae retreat into their burrows beneath the food. Adults may occasionally occur away from the host material as they disperse after eclosion e.g. at night on tree trunks after emerging from avian nests in hollows etc. Some species of Trox have been used in museums to clean away dry material left on skeletons. The creamy-white grub-like larvae have a strongly sclerotized head and plate-like covering on the prothorax, the abdominal segments have at least one transverse row of setae and darken with age and accumulated faeces. The antennae are 3 segmented. There are generally 5 larval instars.