''Onthophagus nuchicornis'' is a species of dung beetle in the family
Scarabaeidae
The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change. Several groups formerly tre ...
. It is found in Europe and North America.
[ Though ''Onthophagus nuchicornis'' is listed as "Vulnerable" in the United Kingdom, it is a common and abundant species in North America. It has been used as a model organism for ecotoxicological studies of ]ivermectin
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug. After its discovery in 1975, its first uses were in veterinary medicine to prevent and treat heartworm and acariasis. Approved for human use in 1987, it is used to treat infestations including head lice ...
, where different biological endpoints (e.g. dung burial) are stimulated at low levels of ivermectin exposure, but impaired at high levels of ivermectin exposure.
Like other beetles within the genus, larva bulk-feed within subterranean brood balls, while adults consume the dead and living microbial biomass within the dung. This species can reproduce using the dung of various different North American mammals including: red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...
, moose
The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...
, and bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...
.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Scarabaeinae
Articles created by Qbugbot
Beetles described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Scarabaeinae-stub