Dung Beetle - Geotrupes egeriei (Eger's Earth Boring Beetle)
Order Coleoptera / Suborder Polyphaga / Superfamily Dascilloidea / Family Geotrupidae  / Genus Geotrupes
Live adult dung beetles photographed at Bartlett, Illinois.
 

I found this unfortunate beetle in the woods. He was on his last legs; indeed, he could not straighten his legs. I took some pics and returned him to where I found him. Bummer. It's hard to tell, but this beautiful beetle is green metallic  - that sort of iridescence is difficult to photograph.


Dung Beetle

Dung beetles are those which feed partly or exclusively on feces. Most of these species belong to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae. As most species of Scarabaeinae feed exclusively on dung, that subfamily is often dubbed true dung beetles. There are dung-feeding beetles which belong to other families, such as the Geotrupidae (the earth-boring dung beetle). The Scarabaeinae alone comprises more than 5,050 species. Many dung beetles, known as rollers, are noted for rolling dung into spherical balls, which are used as a food source or brooding chambers. Other dung beetles, known as tunnellers, bury the dung wherever they find it. A third group, the dwellers, neither roll nor burrow; they simply live in manure.