Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

Description

Dung beetles are very busy workers.  They play a very important role in the ecosystem because they eat or bury large quantities of dung created by large herbivores.  These invertebrates recycle dung, thereby reducing flies and enriching and aerating soil while they do it. 

There are approximately 37,000 described species of dung beetles.  They belong to the order Coleoptera, the largest order in the entire animal kingdom.  However, there may be many more dung beetles because thousands of existing species have not yet been described or discovered.

Dung beetles have six legs that are specialized for shoveling dung and earth. The body is covered with a hard shield, protecting the beetle’s membranous wings.  The shield is a modified forewing and is called the elytra.  All flying insects (like butterflies and moths) have four wings but some (including beetles) may have evolved to serve other purposes.  The wings are transparent or whitish in color and are only visible if the beetle is in flight.  The body length of dung beetles ranges in size from 2 mm-30 mm.  The largest dung beetle Pachylomerus femuralis is actually over 5 cm long.  Dung beetles come in a variety of colors.

The dung beetle puts its head down, bottom up, and rolls dung into a ball with its hind legs.  It then rolls the ball into a burrow, as much as 1.5 meters deep.  This tunneling results in aeration of soil as well as the transfer of dung’s nutrients into the soil. The breakdown of dung also prevents flies from breeding in it.

Generally the female does most of the digging and the male spends most of his time collecting the dung for her.  Down in her tunnel she digs a number of side burrows each of which she fills with dung and then lays one egg in before back filling the burrow with more soil.  If the ball isn’t disturbed, the baby dung beetles will burrow out.

How to See

Dung beetles do their work across Gorongosa National Park.

Status

Africa: Common
Mozambique: Common
Gorongosa: Common

Conservation

Dung beetles do the important work of lowering the amount of dung and flies in Gorongosa National Park. The strong minerals that are highly concentrated in heavy dung have a tendency to suffocate soil.  Large areas of land can became sterile and bare without dung beetles to help clear dung.  As herbivore populations increase in the Park, the dung beetles will likely multiply and continue to perform their important service to the ecosystem.