Dung Beetle

Dung beetles are beetles that feed partly or exclusively on feces. All the species belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea; most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles). As most species of Scarabaeinae feed exclusively on feces, that subfamily is often dubbed true dung beetles. There are dung-feeding beetles which belong to other families, such as the Geotrupidae (the earth-boring dung beetle). The Scarabaeinae alone comprises more than 5,000 species.

Facts

Many dung beetles, known as rollers, roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or brooding chambers. Other dung beetles, known as tunnelers, bury the dung wherever they find it. A third group, the dwellers, neither roll nor burrow: they simply live in manure. They are often attracted by the dung burrowing owls collect.

Dung beetles are currently the only insect known to navigate and orient themselves using the Milky Way.

In Walking With... Series

Walking with Dinosaurs

Time of the Titans

Dung beetles appeared in a cameo in Time of the Titans representing their own Jurassic cousins that fed on Diplodocus dung.

Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs

Dung Beetles were seen in Chapter 2 in the poo of a Tyrannosaurus. One also appeared in Chapter 4 rolling a ball of dung.

Gallery

Dung Beetle in T-rex Poo (Wonderbook)