Digitonthophagus gazella | |
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Male | |
Scientific classification | |
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Species: | D. gazella
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Binomial name | |
Digitonthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787)
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Synonyms | |
Scarabaeus gazella Fabricius, 1787 |
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level in 1959.[1][3] There has been some confusion regarding the application of the names with many people using the outdated name Onthophagus gazella.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]
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]