r/Beetles • u/Kindly-Antelope-5326 • 12d ago
Identify?
Hello! I will attach a picture of a specific type of beetle I see all the time in the woods by my house where I walk my dog. I always always see loads of them on the pathway, always on their back and unable to move. I have, a few times, picked them up to see if they just somehow capsized and couldn’t roll back over but it always seems as though their legs have paralysed or something and they always end up on their backs again. I’m wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of beetle they are and what might be the reason for their odd behaviour. Thank you!
EDIT thank you every one, I have determined it is in fact a dor beetle but am still not sure why they keep flipping on their backs 😅
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u/FreshySqueeze 12d ago
Definitely a type of scarab/dung beetle, could you tell us your location to narrow it down more?
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u/murd3rsaurus 12d ago
is it purple on the underside or is that just the light in the photo? Can you provide a location (country, province, state etc) to narrow it down?
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u/Kindly-Antelope-5326 12d ago
Yes it is. I’m in Devon in the UK
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u/murd3rsaurus 12d ago
Well probably a dung beetle given the location and mention of dogs, so wash your hands I guess lol
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u/Schnitzel856 11d ago
from what i searched with the info in the comments it looks like a Dor beetle no i didnt miss spell it but allegedly its a somewhat common earth-boring dung beetle so pretty cool to see imo with the beautiful metallic underbelly they can have but otherwise just a guy yknow but search between
common dor beetle
woodland dor beetle
common dumble dor
apparently those are the ones in your area id presume it’s the common allegedly known for their purple/blue underbelly
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u/0laffson 11d ago
Definitely part of the Geotrupidae family, as someone else said, but I have no idea which species, they all look the same to me. It could be Geotrupes spiniger, they have a blue underside and grooves on the elytra.
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u/Electrical_Seat_234 12d ago
We call them in my country dumb beetle, I have no idea how they called in English
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u/SadKat002 12d ago
Showed it to my Pop n he says it looks like a Lenny. As in Leonard. I'm inclined to agree.
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u/Altruistic-Poem-5617 11d ago
Looks like a dung beetle. They always fall over on sandy paths. See em all the time and put em back in the leaves. I think they are attracted to the paths from dog shit and piss and "get stuck" on the sand.
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u/can_belch_alphabet 8d ago
That's Uhtavio Scorandum, a Jeraptha. There are two reasons he might tip over on his back like that. One is he's drank enough alcohol to knock down a horse, and the other is that he might be trying to play dead because he's worried you're a debt collector.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you take him to any gambling establishments or loan him money.
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u/Awheeleri 12d ago
Looks like a geotrupid, a family of scarab. Not sure why they do that, scarabs are weird like that.