Family Scarabaeidae
In Australia we have native dung beetles and introduced ones. Dung beetles generally eat animal dung (droppings).
Dung beetles and other beetles are invertebrates.
The majority of dung beetles feed on dung, both in their adult and larval phase. However, many dung beetles feed on a variety of things, including mushrooms, decomposing leaves and other rotting matter. Adult dung beetles have mouth parts which are specially adapted to feed on liquefied material and can break down a dung pad very efficiently by burying the dung underground to use when breeding
Most dung beetle species reproduce in the warmer months of spring, summer and autumn.
A pair of dung beetles (a male and a female) may work together, digging a nest to create a burrow beneath the dung pad. The dung is taken into the burrow in either a ball or an irregular mass. The female lays her eggs in the burrow. The eggs hatch into larvae, which feed on the dung surrounding it.
The larvae will go through three skin changes to reach the non-feeding pupal stage. Male larvae develop into major or minor males depending on how much dung is available to them during their larval phases. Some dung beetle larvae are able to survive unfavourable conditions, such as droughts, by stopping development and remaining inactive for several months. The pupae turn into adult dung beetles, which break out of the dung ball and dig their way to the surface. The newly formed adults will fly to a new dung pad and the whole process starts over.
Dung beetles serve a number of very important ecological functions. The digging activity of tunnelling beetles results in the aeration of soil as well as the transfer of nutrients to the soil by releasing the nutrients in the dung. Also, dung beetles break down dung and prevent flies from breeding in it.
The Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Research at the Australian Museum uses invertebrates such as dung beetles for research. Traditionally, plants (especially trees) and vertebrates such as birds, and lizards have been used for biodiversity and conservation research. This is because they are easy to see and easily identified. But this only looks at a tiny proportion of biodiversity.
Too often, invertebrates have been ignored in biodiversity studies because they are considered too difficult to work with because there are too many of them, many have not been named, and their biology remains largely unknown. While these objections are true for most invertebrates, they do not apply to dung beetles. Dung beetles have a well-defined biology, the species are all named and have keys for their identification, and there are not too many of them - at most there are only 200 kinds of dung beetle in the whole of New South Wales compared to 800 kinds of ants). Moreover, dung beetles are easy to sample because they are attracted to baited traps.
The Australian Museum was interested in obtaining more accurate knowledge about the distribution of dung beetle species in New South Wales for the following reasons:
Such a study may also give us other valuable information, such as the relationship between soil type and vertebrate abundance. Also, researching dung beetles is useful when studying beetles' competitive and sexual behaviour.
In March 2001, the Australian Museum received a Science and Technology Awareness Program (STAP) grant from Science Industry Resources. With this financial support, we worked with 106 Schools and community participants to investigate the distribution of native dung beetles in disturbed environments throughout New South Wales.
Below is a list of the species of Dung Beetle that were found in this project. The list includes introduced species (that is, beetles not native to the area in which they were found) and native species.
Aphodius fimetarius
This beetle introduced accidentally c1850 from South America; established on Dividing Range from Victoria to northern New South Wales.
Aphodius pseudolividus
This beetle introduced accidentally c1850 from South America; established on Dividing Range from Victoria to south Queensland.
Onitis viridulus
Introduced 1976-1980 from Africa; established on the coastal plain of north and central New South Wales.
Onthophagus taurus
Introduced 1975-1984 from southern Europe; established Victoria and southern New South Wales.
Ataenius species 1
Native, range unknown.
Ataenius species 2
Native, range unknown.
Onthophagus compositus
Native to eastern New South Wales and south-east Queensland.
Onthophagus granulatus
Native to Dividing Range, Victoria to south Queensland.
Onthophagus muticus
Native to northern and eastern Australia, as far south as Coffs Harbour.
Onthophagus squalidus
Native to eastern Victoria and eastern New South Wales.
Onthophagus victoriensis
N ative to south-western New South Wales, northern Victoria and eastern South Australia.
Proctophanes sculptus
Native to Dividing Range, Victoria to central New South Wales.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
This page: http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/dung-beetles.htm
