At the end of August, I was moving and sorting out some of my potted plants that were outside, under one pot I found an interesting beetle that I have not found in my garden before, a dung beetle, Metacatharsius opacus.
This was a fairly large beetle at around two centimeters long. I put it onto a sandy patch in my garden to take some photos of it, it soon disappeared into the soil where it will continue its hibernation, only emerging in late Spring. Because I do not often see dung beetles, I do not have much knowledge about them, but thanks to Google, I found some interesting facts.
Dung beetles are a vital part of our eco-system but due to habitat destruction they are becoming increasingly threatened. These beetles are natures own little clean-up crews, soon disposing of dung, leaving little room for flies and other disease carrying pests to breed. The dung beetle is important for soil aeration and fertilisation, while some species just dig a hole to bury their precious egg laden dung ball, others make elaborate underground tunnels. They also play a vital role in secondary seed dispersal.
In South Africa the dung beetles are split up into four groups, each with its own habits:
- Endocoprids are dung beetles that simply burrow into and live in fresh dung when found.
- Paracoprids dig tunnels under the dung pile, depositing dung at the end of the tunnels for later consumption and for egg laying and incubation.
- Telocoprids are the most well-known of the dung beetle family. These are the ones that make the dung ball, often rolling it great distances before burying it. The male makes the dung ball, once the ball is of a suitable size he releases a pheromone that attracts the female, she then climbs on top of the ball, while the male does all the hard work, pushing a ball that’s often 50 times heavier than he, over all sorts of obstacles. Once they have come to a suitable location the female lays her eggs in the ball, then both male and female participate in burying the brood ball using their shovel shaped heads to slowly dig into the soil.
- Klepto-coprids locate the brood balls of other dung beetles and parasitise them by laying their own eggs in the dung ball, their larvae will often kill the larvae of the original hosts.
If you would like to make contact with Warren to have some of your interesting insects, snakes or spiders identified, send him a WhatsApp or call him on 072-211-0353.
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