Coprophagy

Definition

The consumption of feces as a nutritional or behavioral strategy. In entomology, coprophagy encompasses several distinct patterns: autocoprophagy (eating one's own feces, common in cockroaches and some caterpillars to recover symbiotic gut microbes or undigested nutrients), allocoprophagy (eating conspecific feces), and heterospecific coprophagy (eating feces of other species, notably the basis of dung beetle ecology). The behavior serves multiple functions including nutrient recovery, acquisition of gut symbionts, maternal provisioning, and exploitation of concentrated organic substrates.

Etymology

From Greek kopros (feces) + phagein (to eat)

Example

Termite workers and soldiers rely on autocoprophagy to transfer cellulolytic protists and bacteria acquired during trophallaxis, while dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) exhibit obligate heterospecific coprophagy on mammalian feces as their primary adult diet and larval food source.

Synonyms

• coprophagia

Related Terms

• Trophallaxis
• detritivory
• saprophagy
• myrmecophagy
• dung beetle
• gut microbiome
• proctodeal trophallaxis

Usage Notes

Distinguish from saprophagy (feeding on dead organic matter generally) and detritivory (consumption of decomposing plant material). Coprophagy is often obligate and beneficial in insects, whereas in vertebrates it more frequently indicates pathology. The term coprophagia is synonymous but sometimes preferred in veterinary contexts; coprophagy dominates entomological literature.