Bull beetle

Bull beetle
	Bull beetle ( Typhaeus typhoeus ), male
Systematics
Class :	Insects (Insecta)
Order :	Beetle (Coleoptera)
Subordination :	Polyphaga
Family :	Dung beetle (Geotrupidae)
Genre :	Typhaeus
Type :	Bull beetle
Scientific name
	Typhaeus typhoeus
	( Linnaeus , 1758)

Entrance to a brood chamber

Detail, males with poorly developed cusps

The Taurus beetle ( Typhaeus typhoeus ) is a beetle from the family of the dung beetle (Geotrupidae). It is named after the Greek Τυφωεύς (also Typhōn ), a monster of ancient Greek mythology .

features

Bull beetles are 15 to 24 millimeters long. They are faintly shiny and black in color all over the body. The shape of the body is compact and arched upwards. Longitudinal grooves with dots can be seen on the wings . There is a multitude of small thorns on each leg. A clear sexual dimorphism can be seen between the two sexes . Characteristic of the males are three horny growths on the neck plate . The two external appendages are long, the one in the middle is short. The females only have a few pointed humps in their place (picture).

Occurrence

The animals are distributed locally in Europe and North Africa . They inhabit sandy soils in sparse pine forests or sandy heather areas . Bull beetles have become rare, but can be found locally. In Germany they are under nature protection. The adult beetles are seldom found, but the open, circular, approx. 1 cm large entrances to the living and breeding chambers, which can be found in areas free of vegetation, are much more conspicuous.

Way of life

The beetles feed on the droppings of herbivorous animals, preferably rabbits and small ruminants such as sheep and deer . After mating, the animals dig a tube about one to one and a half meters long into the ground, from which several side passages branch off, each ending in a chamber. Feces are brought in and formed into a pill in the chamber. The female then lays the eggs next to this pill; not directly on it, as is common with other dung beetle species. Bull beetles are also active in autumn and winter, as long as the topsoil is not frozen. The hatched larvae feed on the feces stores. They pupate after about a year.

literature

Karl Wilhelm Harde, František Severa, Edwin Möhn: The Kosmos Käferführer: The Central European Beetles. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-06959-1

footnote

↑ The spelling "Typhaeus" is based either on a printing or interpretation error or it arises from Middle Latin eccentricity , like sylvaticus (instead of silvaticus ) or cœruleus for caeruleus . The diphthongization of o + e ( œ , which could be written erroneously as æ ) is wrong, rather the Greek diphthong e + y (εύ). The pronunciation is - according to Central European ideas - therefore not [ty'fœ: ʊs], but [tyfo: 'ɔɪs]. Even Carl von Linné says yes: Malo tres alapas a Prisciano quam unam a natura , better three slaps in the face from the grammarian Priscianus than one from nature, and he still wrote Typhoeus properly . The "three slaps" are due to William E. Leach .

Web links

Commons : bull beetle album with pictures, videos and audio files

[1] The spelling "Typhaeus" is based either on a printing or interpretation error or it arises from Middle Latin eccentricity , like sylvaticus (instead of silvaticus ) or cœruleus for caeruleus . The diphthongization of o + e ( œ , which could be written erroneously as æ ) is wrong, rather the Greek diphthong e + y (εύ). The pronunciation is - according to Central European ideas - therefore not [ty'fœ: ʊs], but [tyfo: 'ɔɪs]. Even Carl von Linné says yes: Malo tres alapas a Prisciano quam unam a natura , better three slaps in the face from the grammarian Priscianus than one from nature, and he still wrote Typhoeus properly . The "three slaps" are due to William E. Leach .