Dor beetle

The dor beetle is a kind of dung beetle. Dung beetles feed on dung, or the animal waste of herbivores. Dung beetles are very helpful to the environment as they process and recycle animal waste.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Coleoptera

Family: Geotrupidae

Genus: Geotrupes

Species: Stercorarius

The dor beetle is common through northern and central Europe and eastern and central Asia. This insect is typically found in grasslands and open woodlands wherever there are many grazing animals.

The dor beetle may grow to be up to one inch (2 1/2 centimeters) in length. Its body is divided into the three parts: head, thorax, and abdomen. This body construction is common among all beetles. The dor beetle's mouthparts are specially designed for biting. Short antennae are located on either side of the mouthparts. Along the sides of the beetle are three pairs of black legs. These legs connect to the dor beetle's body at its thorax. The dor beetle uses its legs for digging and burying dung. The dor beetle's abdomen is covered by this beetle's elytra, or hard, protective wing cases. Beneath these cases lies the dor beetle's single pair of wings.

As a dung beetle, the dor beetle serves a very important purpose in the environment. As it feeds on dung, the dor beetle helps recycle these substances. In addition to animal waste, the dor beetle also feeds on decaying animal flesh and rotting fungus. The dor beetle typically feeds on the dung of grazing animals, like cattle, which feed on grasses. Although the dung of most animals has very little nutritional value, the dung of grazing animals still contains large amounts of nutrients, and often a large amount of undigested food. The dor beetle is attracted to dung and rotting substances by their smell.

The dor beetle is only one species of dung beetle. Generally, each species of dung beetle feeds on a particular animal's dung. The Australian dung beetle is so picky about its dung that it only eats the waste of Australian animals. This became a problem when African cattle were introduced into Australia. The African dung beetle also had to be introduced into Australia to rid the ground of the African cattle's dung. Typically, dor beetles are not such picky eaters.

The dor beetle becomes sexually mature when it is around one year old. Mating season for the dor beetle occurs in the spring. Both male and female dor beetles begin the mating process by digging a large burrow under a dung heap. This burrow may be up to one and a half feet (fifty centimeters) deep and often has three or four egg chambers. The male then drags a piece of dung into the burrow and the female rolls the dung into a ball. She rolls one ball into each chamber and lays eggs on the top of each ball. She then covers the eggs with more dung.

The worm-like larvae typically hatch in the summer and feed on the dung in the egg chamber until it is time for hibernation. In the spring, the larval dor beetles wake up, eat more dung, and then move into their final developmental stage. This stage is called the pupal stage. By early summer the pupal dor beetles have transformed into adults and emerge from the burrows. They feed for the summer, hibernate for the winter, and mate in the spring. the average lifespan for the dor beetle is eighteen months to three years.

Since the dor beetle is a slow, shiny-bodied creature, it is often caught by insect-eating birds and mammals. This insect is often threatened by crows, hedgehogs, moles, and foxes. The dor beetle population is widespread and is not an endangered species.

Bibliography

Bales, Rebecca. “Dung Beetle.” A-Z Animals, 24 Apr. 2023, a-z- a-z-animals.com/animals/dung-beetle/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

“Common Dor Beetle.” Buglife, 5 Aug. 2023, www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/bug-directory/common-dor-beetle/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Nicholls, David. “Geotrupes Stercorarius.” Nature Spot, 24 Aug. 2021, www.naturespot.org.uk/species/geotrupes-stercorarius. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.