Dung Beetle
Onthophagus (?)
Observed near Machakos, Kenya, Africa. May 2017.
With a great diversity of ungulates and other mammals comes a great diversity of dung in terms of size, chemistry, moisture, bacteria and other microbes. It should not be surprising that there is a huge cadre of insects that utilize waste dung as a resource. Even for dung produced by a particular mammal there are multiple strategies for making use and there are variations through the seasons and the soil upon which it is deposited. All of these factors work to increase the biodiversity of beetles and other insects that use dung.