Rainbow scarab
The rainbow scarab is a chunky dung beetle that shines in rainbow colors. The males have a big horn on their heads, while females have no horn. It spends its life busy with animal poop.
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Fun facts
It digs tunnels under a pile of dung and drags dung down to make pear-shaped balls for its babies.
Mom and dad beetles work together to build the tunnels and roll the dung balls.
It covers each brood ball with a hard, cement-like layer to protect the baby inside.
By digging, it mixes the soil and spreads good nutrients around.
Some males are big with long horns, and others are small with tiny horns.
Most asked questions about Rainbow scarab
?Is the rainbow scarab dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people.
?What does a rainbow scarab eat?
Animal dung. It likes dung from cows and pigs best.
?How big is a rainbow scarab?
About 1 to 2 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Phanaeus vindex
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Scarabaeidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Scarabaeidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Phanaeus vindex (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Sebastian Eder. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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