Natural England

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Gardening with Wildlife in Mind

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Aphodius rufipes - a dung beetle - Family: Scarabaeidae

Aphodius rufipes - a dung beetleAphodius rufipes - a dung beetle
© Roger Key/English Nature
UK distribution - East Anglia, Midlands, North, South East, South West

This species is a black or very dark brown dung beetle and is a very regular visitor to gardens. Although feeding in cow or horse dung, these beetles fly great distances at night to find new food sources, and regularly turn up around outside lights in gardens, well into towns away from potential sources of food. After their initial crash into the light source, they are most often seen crawling on the ground beneath the light.

This is also the commonest dung beetle to turn up on dung in pony paddocks in the middle of summer and does a sterling job of disposing of the droppings. They are often seen to be host to very tiny pinkish brown mites. These are not parasites but feeders on moulds which would otherwise spoil the dung as a food source for the larvae: they simply use the beetles as a way of getting about.

Food

Dung-feeder on large droppings of cows and horses, both as adults and larvae.

Predators

Kestrel, Rook