Liothorax niger

Liothorax niger
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Scarabaeiformia
Family: Scarabaeidae
Genus: Liothorax
Species:
L. niger
Binomial name
Liothorax niger
(Illiger, 1798)
Synonyms
  • Aphodius niger Illiger, 1798

Liothorax niger, the beaulieu dung beetle, is a species of beetle of the family Scarabaeidae. It is found in Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China (Xizang), Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

Description

Adults reach a length of about 4.2–4.8 mm (0.17–0.19 in). The head is black, with the antennae and palpi blackish-brown. The pronotum and scutellum are glossy black and the elytra are black.

Life history

In the New Forest (England), specimens are typically taken at the edges of pools and ditches in April-May, but when large numbers are taken it is almost always due to inwash from the surrounding grassland after heavy rain. In Sweden, the beetles have been seen burrowing in trampled organic mud. Very occasionally, specimens are taken in dung. These are rare, random occurrences and may sometimes result from the beetle taking shelter from drought. This species may show dramatic fluctuations in abundance.

References

  1. ↑ "Global Biodiversity Information Facility". gbif.org. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  2. ↑ Schoolmeesters, P. (2025). "Liothorax niger at Catalogue of Life". World Scarabaeidae Database (version 2025-10-07). In O. Bánki, Y. Roskov, M. Döring, G. Ower, D. R. Hernández Robles, C. A. Plata Corredor, T. Stjernegaard Jeppesen, A. Örn, T. Pape, D. Hobern, S. Garnett, H. Little, R. E. DeWalt, J. Miller, T. Orrell, & R. Aalbu, Catalogue of Life (2025-10-10 XR). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Catalogue of Life Foundation. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Angus, R. B.; Maté, J. F.; Angus, E. M.; Král, D. (2024). "Towards a revision of the Palaearctic species of Aphodius Hellwig, 1798, subgenus Liothorax Motschulsky, 1860 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Aphodiinae)". ZooKeys. 1207: 205-299. Retrieved October 28, 2026.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.