When burying beetles first emerge as adults, they search for well-rotted carcasses with fly maggots on which to feed. After attaining reproductive competence, they switch their search and respond to a small, fresh carcass to prepare for their brood. Because the cues used to locate a feeding versus a breeding resource both originate from carrion, the beetles must respond to subtle changes in volatiles during decomposition. We investigated cues used to locate a fresh carcass in the field by (1) a general subtractive method, applying an antibacterial or antifungal compound to reduce microbially derived volatiles, and (2) a specific additive method, placing chemical supplements near a fresh carcass. Five sulfur-containing compounds, known to result from bacterial metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids, were studied: dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS), methyl thiolacetate (MeSAc, also known as S-methyl thioacetate), and methyl thiocyanate (MeSCN). When a carcass aged for 48 h was treated with an antibacterial compound to reduce volatiles, there was a 59% decrease in beetles discovering the resource. The addition of the chemical supplement MeSAc had no effect on discovery of a fresh carcass, while DMS and DMDS had a limited ability to attract breeding beetles. The chemical that was least well known, MeSCN, increased beetle numbers by 200–800% on a fresh carcass and almost guaranteed discovery. DMTS, which is known to attract a variety of carrion insects, was the only compound to significantly reduce beetle presence at a fresh carcass. A laboratory experiment demonstrated that DMTS does not directly inhibit breeding, suggesting that DMTS deters breeding beetles while they fly.

当掩埋的甲虫成年后首次出现时，他们寻找带有蝇的腐烂的cas体作为食物。获得生殖能力后，他们改变搜索范围，对新鲜的小small体做出反应，为自己的育雏做准备。由于用于定位饲料和繁殖资源的线索均来自腐肉，因此，甲虫必须在分解过程中对挥发物的细微变化做出反应。我们调查了通过以下方法在现场定位新鲜fresh体的提示：（1）一种通用的消减方法，应用一种抗菌或抗真菌化合物以减少微生物衍生的挥发物，以及（2）一种特殊的添加方法，在新鲜car体附近放置化学补品。研究了五种已知由细菌体内含硫氨基酸代谢产生的含硫化合物：二甲基硫醚（DMS），S-硫代乙酸甲酯）和硫氰酸甲酯（MeSCN）。当用抗菌化合物处理48小时的cas体以减少挥发物时，发现该资源的甲虫减少了59％。化学补充剂MeSAc的添加对新鲜fresh体的发现没有影响，而DMS和DMDS吸引种甲虫的能力有限。最鲜为人知的化学物质MeSCN在新鲜car体上使甲虫数量增加了200–800％，几乎可以保证发现。众所周知，DMTS会吸引各种腐肉昆虫，它是唯一能显着减少新鲜fresh体中甲虫存在的化合物。实验室实验表明，DMTS不会直接抑制繁殖，这表明DMTS会阻止甲虫在飞行时繁殖。