Dung beetles belong to the Scarabaeidae family of beetles. There are 4,500 species worldwide, with most found in Africa where they have evolved with large herbivores such as buffalo and elephants. There are approximately 300 native species in Australia.

Dung beetles provide several environmental and agricultural benefits. Dung burial and dispersal reduces pasture fouling and nutrient runoff into waterways, removes fly and parasite breeding habitat facilitates nutrient recycling by exposing dung to soil microbes, plant roots and earthworms improves water infiltration and aeration of soil by generating a network of underground tunnels.

Feeding

Dung beetles feed on the dung of vertebrates. Adult dung beetles feed on the fluid part of the dung which they extract by squeezing the dung in their mouthparts. Dung beetle larvae feed on the whole dung (fluid and fibre) which they cut and chew with their mouthparts. Dung beetles do not require any other food source not even water.

Flight

Dung beetles are strong fliers and can fly several kilometres in one flight. Species fly either during daylight hours (day fliers) or at dusk and dawn (night fliers). They can detect dung from a considerable distance by its smell, and fly upwind along an odour plume to the dung. They fly to fresh dung once they have depleted their current pad. When stocking rates are low or cattle are regularly moved dung beetles may need to fly considerable distances to find fresh dung.

Breeding

Adult dung beetles make an underground nest at the end of their tunnels. Most species mould dung into individual brood balls in which one egg is laid. Other species make a longer sausage of dung in which two or three eggs may be laid. Larvae hatch from the eggs and feed on the dung in the brood balls. When larval growth is completed the larva pupates and a new adult emerges and digs up to the soil surface. The time between egg laying and adult emergence can vary from one month to a year or more depending on species.

There are two main types of breeding behaviour in dung beetles. Most species are tunnellers which make tunnels under the dung pad and take the dung down into an underground nest. The male collects the dung and passes it down to the female who constructs the nest and makes brood balls (figure 1). A pair may work together in one dung pad for several days or even a couple of weeks as long as dung is available. The beetles then fly off separately in search of fresh dung.

The other group of species (the "rollers") make a ball of dung at the dung pad and then roll it away (figure 1). Most species (such as Sisyphus rubrus) bury the ball before laying an egg in it, however Sisyphus spinipes lays an egg in the ball and leaves it propped up in a tussock of grass or other vegetation.

Life Cycles of Common Dung Beetle Species