Silphidae

A poem challenge to write about an insect

Carrion or burying beetle,
which name do you prefer?
If your food is vertebrate or invertebrate,
you might fly or crawl the earth.

You are Jurassic yet modern in history.
Silphid, carrion-eater
Why do those words
make the skin crawl?

You've served the world for millions of years.
Your decomposition talents
are a tool for coroners
to predict the time of death.

Your tiger colors of orange and black
have marked you for endangerment
Some of you will pass the way of the Caspian, Bali, or Javan.
Now extinct.