They emerge as adults 48-60 days later in July and August, then disperse with their parents. The young, now adults, reproduce the following June or July. They overwinter, probably singly, in the soil. The parents die off after reproduction or during the subsequent winter. American burying beetles are scavengers, attracted to decaying vegetation and carrion.
Adults feed on a wide range of species as carrion.
They also consume live insects. One population is on Block Island, Rhode Island. The other is a recently discovered population in eastern Oklahoma. Oak-hickory and bottomland forests and grasslands predominate. Well-drained soils and a well developed detritus layer are characteristic of all sites.