Subject: Rescued Dung Beetles
Geographic location of the bug: Hialeah Florida
Date: 03/15/2019
Time: 12:12 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I often see dung beetles drowning in my swimming pool-not sure why they wind up in there so often. Last Dec 31 I netted four of them in a few minutes and set them on a wall to dry out and take photos before they wandered away. One was gone before I could get back with the camera. I love how their shells vary- one had a beautiful long curving horn and side spikes on the shield. I wonder if that’s a variation due to age or gender or is it just that some beetles get lucky in the shell genetic lottery?
How you want your letter signed: Marian
Dear Marian,
Your image of rescued Rainbow Scarabs, a type of Dung Beetle, is awesome, as is the rescue story. We are tagging this posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award. Male Rainbow Scarabs have the horn, but there is some genetic lottery involved as well. According to BugGuide: “Pronotum of ‘major’ male has sharp posterior angles. Major males, depicted, are easier to differentiate than minor males (w/ short horns) and females (w/ very short horns).”