Common dung ball beetle
| Common dung ball beetle | ||||||||||||
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Common dung ball beetle ( Sphaeridium scarabaeoides ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sphaeridium scarabaeoides | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The common dung ball beetle ( Sphaeridium scarabaeoides ) is a beetle from the family of water beetles (Hydrophilidae).
features
The beetles reach a body length of about 5.7 millimeters and have a relatively colored pattern for water beetles. Their black, glossy body has in the first half of the wing ( elytra ) a sloping, red (subhumeral) spot and also has a yellow, jagged spot on the tips of the wing. These apical spots can extend along the wing edge to the middle of the elytra. The subhumeral spots can also be absent, and rarely also the apical spots. The base of the laterally sometimes reddish yellow edged throat plate is bulged on both sides of weak. The antennae and palps are colored dark brown, the base of the splints ( tibiae ) and the tarsi are colored rusty red, sometimes the tarsi are a bit darker. The front legs of the males have widened the first through fourth phalanges and have a large, curved tooth on the outside of the splint.
Similar species
Occurrence
The animals are found in the Palearctic , north to Lapland and also on the British Isles . They live on excrement, especially in that of cattle and horses, sometimes also on rotting plant material. The females lay their eggs directly in the feces and spin a web around them for protection. The larvae then live and develop in the dung.
swell
literature
- Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica - The beetles of the German Empire. Volume 2 p. 367, KG Lutz, Stuttgart 1912
- Edmund Reitter : Fauna Germanica. The beetles of the German Reich (= digital library . 134). Neusatz and facsimile of the 5-volume edition Stuttgart 1908 to 1916. Directmedia Publishing, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89853-534-7 .
- Jiří Zahradník : Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. An identification book for biologists and nature lovers. Parey, Hamburg et al. 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
