DOI: 10.5061/dryad.nzs7h4501
title: Data from: Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetles (Staphylinidae: Silphinae)

description: Investigating fundamental processes in biology requires the ability to
 ground broad questions in species-specific natural history. This is
 particularly true in the study of behavior because an organism’s
 experience of the environment will influence the behaviors expressed and
 the opportunity for selection. Here, we provide a review of the natural
 history and behavior of burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus to
 provide the groundwork for comparative work that showcases their
 remarkable behavioral and ecological diversity. Burying beetles have long
 fascinated scientists because of their well-developed parenting behavior,
 exhibiting extended post-hatching care of offspring that varies
 extensively within and across taxa. Despite the burgeoning success of
 burying beetles as a model system for the study of behavioral evolution,
 there has not been a review of their behavior, ecology, and evolution in
 over 25 years. To address this gap, we leverage a developing community of
 researchers who have contributed to a detailed knowledge of burying
 beetles to highlight the utility of Nicrophorus for investigating the
 causes and consequences of social and behavioral evolution.
description: Data were collected from a perusal of iNaturalist imagery for
 Nicrophorus, or from published manuscripts reporting different body
 sizes.
description: # Data from: Revisiting the ecology and evolution of burying beetles
 (Staphylinidae: Silphinae)
 [https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70175](https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70175)
 Data are references to iNaturalist observations that showcase diversity of
 feeding and breeding substrates and instances of predation
 of *Nicrophorus* worldwide, iNaturalist data for the images used in
 figures 2-4 in the manuscript, and the data/references for data used for
 body size distributions provided in figure 5.  ## Description of the data
 and file structure There are two data files that include all data. File
 specific information is included below under the name of each file.
 **iNaturalist sightings**: Data for observations of *Nicrophorus* from
 iNaturalist. Data included include the species name, what is occurring in
 the image, the research grade designation of the observation, and a link
 to the observation data. If an image was included in a figure, the figure
 it was used in is written under "Figures", with the attribution
 to the citizen scientist in the "Photo Credit" column. Fields
 marked with "N/A", for "not applicable", in the Figure
 and Photo Credit columns are those that were not included as images in the
 manuscript. See below for further description of each column heading.
 **Description of column headings:** Species: species in the genus
 *Nicrophorus*, with the genus name abbreviated to "N." Data:
 description of what the Nicrophorus is doing in the photograph Quality:
 quality of photograph assigned by iNaturalist to the photograph, generally
 indicating the degree of confidence that the species in the photograph is
 the assigned species url: where the observation can be viewed Figure: what
 figure the image was used in, if applicable Photo credit: the citizen
 scientist who took the photo and provided permissions for the photograph
 to be showcased, if applicable **Body size**: Figure 5 in the manuscript
 includes a category for body size for each species of *Nicrophorus*
 (small, medium, large). Data fields in this file include species, average
 pronotum width, size category, and references that data were sourced from.
 See descriptions below for more details. Fields with "N/A"
 indicate species for which these data are not available, or fewer than 10
 individuals have been measured. **Description of column headings:**
 Species: scientific name for species Mean pronotum width (mm): as
 described. Pronotum width is a commonly used proxy for body size in
 *Nicrophorus*, and was used because this was the most common measure used
 for body size across publications. Size category: determined by plotting
 the body size and categorizing based on quartiles, 1-25% (small), 26-75%
 (medium), and 75-100% (large) Reference (and reference therein):
 manuscript that provided or summarized the body size data used.