| Physical Characteristics |
it is a dung-eating insect. The body is subdivided
in head, thorax, abdomen. The last one has two pairs of legs covered by
strong bristles that allow it to move in the sand, and also by some spines
that are useful to have a grip on compact soils. Compound eyes are well
developed. On the head there are antennas . The body is brownish-black. |
| Behaviour |
it is active during the hottest hours. Thanks
to its sense of smell, it searches for dung, that it collects building a
little ball rounded with its forelegs. The ball is rolled up to the entrance
of the den, where it is eaten by the insect. The female lays the eggs above
the dung ball, after having enriched it with digestive enzymes: in this
way when the larva is born it will find the food that will allows it to
develope. |
| Habitat |
dunes. |
| Food habits |
it feeds on dung. |
| Nidification |
the pair start building the nest in autumn, digging a
den up to 50 centimeters deep. Female adds to the main tunnel other lateral
galleries: each of them takes to a room, filled with a lot of dung. |
Scarabaeus
semipunctatus
