Flightless Dungbeetle

Circellium bacchus

Description:

A large black dung beetle - identified by its inability to fly and limited distribution

Habitat:

The flightless dung beetle (Circellium bacchus) is a species of dung beetle endemic to a few areas of South Africa, including the Addo Elephant National Park where this specimen was photographed.

Notes:

The flightless dung beetles mostly feed on elephant or buffalo faeces.

Species ID Suggestions

7 Comments

staccyh 10 years ago

Dung beetles are really cool! One of the co-authors on the paper that Ava posted the link for was one of my undergrad lecturers and his passion for these beetles is infectious. Thanks for sharing.

Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Great links Ava. Very interesting.
Who needs to fly if you can roll on your ball ! :)

drP 10 years ago

Thanks!

Ava T-B 10 years ago

Here's the summary
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/retr...

drP 10 years ago

That is so cool! I love the way the experiment was designed, too: using clear hats to control for the effect of the opaque hats, working in the planetarium... very nice, indeed. I don't have a subscription to Current Biology, but I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy of the original paper.