Brood-ball

Guides

Onthophagus nuchicornis
Small black-and-brown Dung Beetle
Onthophagus nuchicornis is a Palearctic dung beetle introduced to North America in the 1840s, now established across Canada and the northern United States. The species exhibits generalist coprophagy, successfully reproducing using dung from both domestic livestock and indigenous mammals including bobcat, moose, red fox, and raccoon. It possesses an obligatory cold reproductive diapause restricting it to a single generation per year. In the United Kingdom, it is listed as Vulnerable, while in North America it is abundant and has been employed as a model organism for ecotoxicological studies of ivermectin effects on dung burial behavior.
dung-beetle introduced-species coprophage diapause ecotoxicology-model pasture-ecosystem sexual-dimorphism ivermectin-effects generalist-feeder Palaearctic-native Nearctic-introduced single-generation-per-year brood-ball tunneling-behavior competition-with-native-species CLIMEX-bioclimatic-model nutrient-cycling soil-aeration cattle-pasture-management Vulnerable-(UK)