Digitonthophagus gazella
Species of beetle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Digitonthophagus gazella (common names: gazella scarab, brown dung beetle[1]) is a species of scarab beetle.[1][2] It belongs to the genus Digitonthophagus, which was promoted from subgenus to genus level in 1959.[1][3] There has been some confusion regarding the application of the names with many people using the outdated name Onthophagus gazella. Dung beetle experts use the term Digitonthophagus gazella.[4][5]
| Digitonthophagus gazella | |
|---|---|
| |
| Male | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Scarabaeiformia |
| Family: | Scarabaeidae |
| Subfamily: | Scarabaeinae |
| Tribe: | Onthophagini |
| Genus: | Digitonthophagus |
| Species: | D. gazella |
| Binomial name | |
| Digitonthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Scarabaeus gazella Fabricius, 1787 | |
Its native distribution is Afro-Asian. It has been introduced to many other parts of the world in order to help remove cattle dung from pastures, with some introductions leading to naturalized populations.[4][2] Digitonthophagus gazella was introduced into Australia as part of the Australian Dung Beetle project in 1968.[6]
