Nicrophorus vespillo is a burying beetle described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

They are distinguished from others in the genus by the long golden hairs on the body and wing-cases as well as the orange club-shaped ends of the antennae and the shape of the hind legs.

The parents will excavate beneath suitable small animal corpses, also covering it with the soil, so that it becomes buried and ready for the female to lay eggs.

After burial they remove hair or feathers and shape the carcass into a ball within a small underground space.

Pupae formed towards the end of the breeding season may spend the winter in hibernation and emerge as juvenile beetles the following spring.