{"id":10317,"date":"2019-03-27T09:38:10","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T14:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/?p=10317"},"modified":"2019-06-12T11:15:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T16:15:50","slug":"dung-beetle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/dung-beetle\/","title":{"rendered":"Dung beetle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salutations, BugFans,\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the secret of getting a good picture is \u201cRight time, right place, right toys.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0The BugLady has been longing to do an episode on dung beetles – they\u2019re amazing insects, and they live right here in Wisconsin, but clearly, she has not been in the right place at the right time, kicking over the right clods (first dictionary definition).\u00a0 Thanks to BugFan Freda for pictures of an international dung beetle, which will stand in for Wisconsin species.
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\n\u201cDung beetle\u201d refers to beetles whose lives are intertwined with dung, but the term is not exclusively a taxonomic one.\u00a0 True, most of its practitioners belong to the beetle family Scarabaeidae<\/em> and the subfamily Scarabaeinae<\/em>, but the name is also applied loosely to any beetle that makes its living in dung.\u00a0 In Wisconsin, that includes a member of the Clown beetle family Histeridae<\/em> and a member of the Water scavenger beetle family Hydrophilidae<\/em>, who swims in dung, but whose relatives swim in water.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Researching the dung beetle is like researching a rock star.\u00a0 There are True Facts, YouTube videos, Facebook, kids\u2019 pages, and even a graphic novel or two!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because they have Super Powers.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Like many scarabs, dung beetles are drab, stocky, and well-armored, some with a horn or an exaggerated \u201cbrow\u201d that\u2019s used in fighting, and with legs adapted for gripping, digging, and pushing.\u00a0 They use their antennae to catch the scent of excrement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Though they don\u2019t especially like cold weather, dung beetles live in a variety of different habitats (deserts, grasslands, agricultural lands, and woodlands) on all continents but Antarctica.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why are dung beetles dung beetles?\u00a0 Because, as adults and as larvae, they eat and live, in and around animal droppings.\u00a0 They prefer the droppings of herbivores and omnivores, which tend to be somewhat under-digested.\u00a0 Adults eat the liquid portion, not the roughage, and the larvae feed on the solids.\u00a0 Some species eat carnivore poop, fungi or decomposing fruits.\u00a0 They don\u2019t drink.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They meet and mate around dung.\u00a0 Dung beetles are divided into three groups, depending on style \u2013 dwellers, tunnelers, and rollers. \u00a0Dwellers<\/em> keep it simple \u2013 adults don\u2019t excavate the soil or manipulate the dung, they just lay their eggs on top of a manure pile.\u00a0 The larvae hatch and feed within the maturing manure pile, but the adults move to one that is fresher and wetter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tunnelers<\/em> dig into the soil below a dung pat and make tunnels and egg chambers.\u00a0 The male hauls bits of dung into the tunnels, and the female arranges them (it stays fresher underground) and lays eggs.\u00a0 Both parents may stay in the manure with the larvae, and the male uses his headgear to defend his female, food and family from rival males with prolonged, underground pushing contests.\u00a0 Tunnelers dodge some of the parasites and predators that find \u201cdwellers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the Rollers<\/em> that most intrigue us.\u00a0 An adult male locates a pile of good stuff (not too dry), breaks off some pieces, and compacts them, forming a ball.\u00a0 This he offers to a female, and if she\u2019s willing, they roll it away to a likely spot, watching as they go for rival beetles that may try to steal it (early naturalists thought that the other beetles were just helping the happy couple). \u00a0<\/p>\n

When they find a soft substrate, they bury the brood ball by hollowing out the space below it so it sinks into the ground.\u00a0 After mating, the male leaves to sow his wild oats elsewhere, and the female makes a few more brood balls and lays a single egg in each, sealing them by smearing them with a paste of saliva, feces, and dung.\u00a0 In some species, she stays to tend the grubs, which are described as \u201csix legs and a mouth.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 She only lays a handful of eggs in her lifetime, and she works to ensure their survival!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dung balls are also made and buried as food caches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\nDung beetles provide a variety of important ecological services (one of which is that without them we\u2019d be knee-deep in, well,\u2026…).\u00a0 They aerate the soil, recycle nutrients, improve water circulation, and disperse seeds, all of which encourages plant growth and improves conditions for grazing animals.\u00a0 Fewer cow pats means less habitat for dung-loving, cow-biting flies (one cow pat can generate 3,000 flies).\u00a0 And they break down and prepare the dung for species that will use it after they do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DUNG BEETLE FUN FACTS<\/strong><\/p>\n