Put on Your Dungarees
These dung beetles bring home balls of dung for food. The three small males pictured here each have a pair of long horns so they can go head-to-head when competing for females. Because dung beetles feed on manure, they are valuable for cleaning pastures.
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DownloadPut on Your Dungarees
These dung beetles bring home balls of dung for food. The three small males pictured here each have a pair of long horns so they can go head-to-head when competing for females. Because dung beetles feed on manure, they are valuable for cleaning pastures.
What am I looking at?
The main image shows three dung beetles (Onthophagus taurus). Unlike females, these three males each have a pair of long, curved horns on their head (1). These horns give the insect its alternative name – the bull-horned, or bull-headed, beetle. On the back of their body, under their hardened outer wings (2), called elytra, are long, folded flight wings ready to lift the beetle into the air. Click on the right arrow to see some additional views of dung beetles.
Biology in the background
Male bull-horned dung beetles have large horns on their heads to push each other backward and forward as they fight for females in underground breeding tunnels. Males find mates in tunnels under piles of manure, where the females bring food to their egg chambers. Although small, this specific dung beetle is the strongest insect relative to its weight and can move over 1,000 times its own body weight. Dung beetles are recyclers, making them one of the most important animals in their ecosystem.
This type of beetle can grow up to about 13 millimeters in length, or roughly two-thirds the width of a human thumbnail.
Technique
This image was created using macrophotography.
Igor Siwanowicz, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus