Dung beetles play a major role in recycling organic matter in many ecosystems. They help the decay of dead animals and plants, thus increasing the rate of decay and breaking down large amounts of debris. This helps to prevent disease and pollution from spreading through the ecosystem. In North America, there are three types of dung beetles commonly seen: European red wiggler (or red dung beetle), American burying beetle, and lesser scarab beetle. All three species eat animal feces and use their powerful jaws to break down the manure into smaller pieces.
1. Dung beetles are the only insect that can eat feces. They have special teeth at the end of their mouthparts called anal gills. These allow them to filter out the solid waste from the liquid waste. This allows them to eat things like poop and not get sick.
2. A dung beetle's life span is about 2 months. That means they lay between 100-and 200 eggs per day. After hatching, the babies go through 4 stages of development before reaching adulthood.
3. Dung beetles use pheromones to communicate with each other. Pheromones are chemicals used for sending messages between animals. When two beetles come together, they rub their bellies, releasing pheromones into the air and telling the other beetle where it can find food.
4. Dung beetles have been known to live up to 15 years.
5. In some areas, dung beetles help farmers keep down pests. Farmers build traps around their fields like heaps of cow dung. Then they place a piece of bread inside. If a dung beetle finds this, it eats the bread and gets full. Then it goes back to its home to tell others that there is good food nearby. This helps the farmer know what kind of pests he has in his field.
6. There are more than 2000 species of beetles.
7. Dung beetles are not insects but arthropods that have no wings and live only on dung. They are actually members of the beetle family Scarabaeidae. There are more than 5,000 species of beetles worldwide, although they are more common in the tropics.
8. Beetles are important pollinators of other crops, including bananas, cocoa, coffee, and coconut.
9. Dung beetles can survive without food for months if needed.
10. Many people think that dung beetles look like miniature roaches. But don't worry; they aren't related at all!
11. Dung beetles are the only insects that eat feces. They do this so they can carry dung from place to place. This helps spread bacteria around the area where the dung was produced.
12. Dung beetles have been known to live up to two years without food.
13. Dung beetles are usually black or dark brown.
14. There are over 2000 different species of dung beetle.
15. Females lay about 20-30 eggs at a time.
16. The worms (worms) of the dung beetle look like tiny worms.
