How do dung beetles mate, and what are their effects and functions?

The dung beetle is commonly known as the shikelang and belongs to the order Coleoptera, family Scarabaeidae. The body is black or dark brown, and it is a medium-to-large insect. Most dung beetles are coprophagous, feeding on animal dung, and have earned the title of “nature's scavenger.” So, how do dung beetles mate? What effects and functions do they have?

How do dung beetles mate?

The female digs a tunnel beneath the dung and piles up some food inside. The male enters the tunnel and takes on the job of guarding the entrance. If another male dares to come in, the male will greet him with head-butts and shoves. Generally speaking, the one that ultimately wins mating rights is the largest dung beetle with the biggest horns on its head.

Some other smaller males without horns come up with a very clever trick: they dig their own tunnel alongside, bypass the male standing guard, quietly sneak up to the female, and mate with her while no one is watching. Interestingly, these small dung beetles have more sperm, so they have a greater chance of becoming fathers.

In addition to this ordinary mating behavior, after the male dung beetle inserts its sexual organ into the female's sexual organ, it leaves a sperm packet called the [aedeagus] in the female's birth canal, after which the female places the fertilized eggs into a hatching ball made of dung.

Dung rollers:

Dung rollers do not dig tunnels. The male makes a round ball out of dung and rolls it along; if the female takes a fancy to him, she jumps onto the dung ball for a free ride. After the male rolls the dung ball to an ideal spot, he starts playing the "guard the dung ball and mate" map, preventing other males from rolling the dung ball away or even dumping it somewhere else.

Once a suitable spot is found, the couple buries the dung ball in the soft soil, and the two dung rollers begin to mate; after mating, the fertilized eggs are laid inside the dung ball.

Dwellers:

This type of dung beetle is the laziest. After the fertilized eggs are wrapped in hatching balls, they are buried directly into fresh dung or hidden beneath the dung.

Each fertilized egg is wrapped in a hatching ball made of dung. Some larger dung beetles produce only 1-2 offspring a year, while other species produce dozens of offspring a year. In some cases, the female will even live in the dung to care for the hatching larvae.

What effects and functions do dung beetles have?

1. Paralytic effect: Dung beetle toxin was tested on the neuromuscular specimen of a toad. A paralytic effect could be seen.

2. Cardiac inhibitory effect: When dung beetle toxin was injected intravenously into rabbits, blood pressure first dropped and then rose, the respiratory amplitude increased, the frequency accelerated, and it also had an inhibitory effect on the isolated heart of a toad.

3. Smooth muscle inhibitory effect: It has an inhibitory effect on rabbit intestines and uterus.

4. Toxic effect: When dung beetle toxin was injected into mice, restlessness and discomfort appeared, and after several tens of minutes they died from convulsions.

5. Clearing phlegm and calming wind: The dung beetle is salty in taste and can soften and transform phlegm, is cold in nature and clears heat to purge fire, and enters the liver meridian; therefore it clears and purges liver fire to calm liver wind. It mainly directs downward and purges, and can purge upward-blocking phlegm-heat. Thus it has the effect of clearing phlegm and calming wind.

6. Clearing heat and detoxifying: The dung beetle is salty in taste and cold in nature; it clears heat and purges fire, using toxin against toxin. It is suitable for dysentery, carbuncles, sores, and toxic swellings, etc.

7. Breaking blood stasis and dispersing masses: The dung beetle is salty in taste, which can soften hardness and disperse masses, and it also enters the blood aspect; therefore it can invigorate blood and dissolve stasis. It is suitable for abdominal masses and accumulations, dysphagia with counterflow vomiting, and infantile malnutrition, etc.