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Dung Beetle Survey

The dung beetle survey in the Upper Barwon and Geelong Landcare Network areas is ten months in with only two collections left and we are now seeing all the summer dominant varieties emerging.

Over three years of dung beetle surveys from various projects has shown that the Western Districts have far more summer dominant dung beetle species than winter ones and here are some of the ones you may be seeing around your properties.

Many Onthophagus species are dominant year-round, and you’ll most likely see some O. taurus, and O. australis flying around. Some of the lesser know species that you might see are Onthophagus mutatus and Onthophacus mniszechi.

o.mutatus is a small, 4-7mm, beetle with two horns perpendicular to the head. It is usually black with dark green reflexions when seen under direct light.

o. mniszechi is a large beetle, 15-22mm, it is shiny black in colour with a single horn on its head and two horns on its pronotum.

Keep your eyes out for these little guys and for more dung beetle identification, join us on the 21st of May for another dung beetle workshop and ID session. More details released closer to the date.

Dung Beetle o mutatus 1 Dung Beetle o mutatus 2

Both images above are O.mutatus and below is O.mniszechi

Dung Beetle o mniszechi

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