Oxelytrum cayennense is a species of carrion beetles belonging to the family Silphidae.
Description Oxelytrum cayennense can reach a length of about . They have three ridges on each elytron, without hairs on the pronotal disk and without a tooth or only with a small protuberance in the humeral region of the elytra. Elytra are black, with pointed apices. Head has prominent eyes and antennae with a 3-segmented antennal club. Pronotum usually shows a uniform orange-red or yellow color, but often a dark maculae, almost rounded or a little quadrangular-shaped, occupies the center of the pronotal disk.Steward B. Peck, Robert S. Anderson Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the carrion beetles of Latin America Questiones Entomologicaes 21.247-317 1985Lúcia M. Almeida; Kleber M. Mise Diagnosis and key of the main families and species of South American Coleoptera of forensic importance Rev. Bras. entomol. vol.53 no.2 São Paulo June 2009
These carrion beetles are nocturnal. They are commonly associated with decomposing carcasses of animals. Adults feed both on soft tissues of carcasses and on larvae and eggs of flies, while the larvae are strictly scavengers.Kleber Makoto Mise, Alex Sandro Barros de SouzaII; Claudimir de Menezes Campos; Ruth Leila Ferreira Keppler; Lúcia Massutti de Almeida Coleoptera associated with pig carcass exposed in a forest reserve, Manaus, Amazonas, BrazilKleber Makoto Mise Parâmetros biológicos e métodos de diferenciação de espécies e ínstares de Coleoptera de interesse forense Departamento de Zoologia, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná
Distribution and habitat This species is present in most of northern and central South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Venezuela). It can be found in lower to middle elevation rain forest habitats.Silphidae de Argentina
References