And now for a little “sh*t posting”…

I found this little beetle in a Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) trap several years ago in the vicinity of Ontario, California. I was able to identify it as a male (you can tell by the horns) Onthophagus taurus, a type of dung beetle native to areas around the Mediterranean (southern Europe, North Africa and the middle East). Apparently they were introduced in the U.S. in the late 1960’s to early 1970’s to help control cow dung, and have now spread to most of North America.

Image via Wikipedia.

Anyway, something a little different from the usual June bugs (Phyllophaga) and green fruit beetles (Cotinis) that I usually find in the traps.