[1] Necrobia ruficollis is 4.0–6.5 mm (0.16–0.26 in) long, and is mostly a metallic black or dark blue colour.

Its thorax and legs and the bases of the elytra are reddish brown.

It is frequently found in cadavers in the later stages of decomposition,[1] and is thus useful in forensic entomology.

French zoologist Pierre André Latreille was imprisoned in 1793 in Bordeaux and faced deportation in penal colony of Cayenne, after failing to swear allegiance to the state following the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

[4] When Latreille explained that it was a rare insect, having identified it as Necrobia ruficollis, the physician was impressed and sent the insect to a 15-year-old local naturalist, Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent.