[2] Adult beetles and larvae are primarily found on large carrion in the late stages of decomposition.

Researchers hypothesize that the beetles have difficulty accessing decaying bodies indoors as they cannot easily detect openings in buildings.

Data on mortality, rate of growth, size was collected to for adults raised individually and compared to results obtained from beetles reared in aggregations.

Scientists discovered that aggregations amongst larvae especially led to decreased development time, reduced mortality, and these beetles even grew to be larger.

Lower temperatures of approximately 16 °C (61 °F) was the ideal condition to observe the greatest results from aggregative behavior.

Group living has its benefits for these beetles because it makes foraging easier and creates a stronger defense against predators.

Researchers who are interested in exploring why the beetle larvae group for feeding performed an experiment to test the "importance of thermal cues and ground-deposited chemical cues for the aggregation behavior..."[14] The experiment involved field data and lab tests.

The field data consisted of analyzing the larvae growth results of previous experiments with pig carcasses.

The data from the experiments did not support the ground-deposited chemical cues as an important motivation for aggregation behavior.

[2][7] Minimal information is known about the VOCs of cadavers at late stages of decomposition that attract beetles like N. littoralis.

The researchers explain that future studies should focus on identifying the gases that cause bloating to narrow down the possible VOCs that attract N. littoralis to carrions.

[16] It is understood that both beetles and blowflies help decompose bodies, but researchers in Poland were interested in the competitive aspect of the N. littoralis and blow fly interactions and thus conducted a study to investigate this.

Another hypothesis proposed by the authors of the aforementioned study was that the beetles "compete with blow flies by killing the larvae that are prior on in their peak feeding phase [...] These predictions were tested in behavioral laboratory assays.

[16] N. littoralis are useful forensic entomologists as analysis of their behaviors and growth can reveal evidence in death cases.

[10] The results of the study indicate that beetles reared individually have a higher mortality, take more time to develop and are smaller in size.

On the other hand, beetles reared in aggregation have lower mortality, take less time to develop, and are larger in size.

In the previously mentioned study, it was found that most of the cases involving the species occurred in the months of June, July, August, and September.

[2] In the area of France, these months are typically dry and hot, demonstrating a preference of the species for these conditions.

This species displays intense competitive and predatory behavior, toppling insect hierarchies and dominating the decay stage.

Olfactometric studies were used to unveil that these beetles are attracted to the sulphur containing compounds that are released by carcasses during their decay.