Eger’s Earth Boring Beetle – Geotrupes egeriei

Dung beetles are those which feed partly or exclusively on feces, most often from herbivorous animals. Most of these species belong to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae. There are dung-feeding beetles which belong to other families, such as the Geotrupidae (the earth-boring dung beetles, pictured here.)

The Scarabaeinae alone comprises more than 5,050 species. Many dung beetles, known as rollers, are noted for rolling dung into spherical balls, which are used as a food source or brooding chambers. Other dung beetles, known as tunnellers, bury the dung wherever they find it. A third group, the dwellers, neither roll nor burrow; they simply live in manure.

Order Coleoptera: Beetles are the dominant form of life on earth: one of every five living species is a beetle. Coleoptera is the largest order in the animal kingdom, containing a third of all insect species. There are about 400,000 known species worldwide, ~30,000 of which live in North America.  Beetles live in nearly every habitat, and for every kind of food, there’s probably a beetle species that eats it.
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