Deep in the Amazon jungle, researchers have discovered a dung beetle that doesn't live up to its name, a sign the insect has undergone speciation. A new study published today (Jan. 20) in Biology Letters reports a dung beetle that shuns its normal muck-eating habits in favor of feasting solely on live millipedes -- the first non-dung-eating dung beetle, say the authors. But not everyone agrees with this claim.
Dung beetles are a worldwide group of insects that feed almost exclusively on animal droppings, which can be a rare commodity. Although certain dung beetles sometimes dine on rotting fruit or fungus, and two species have been spotted preying on ants, no obligate predatory dung beetle had ever been reported.
But now, Trond Larsen, a Princeton University biologist, and his colleagues have discovered a killer dung beetle that pooh-poohs its ancestral dung ball-rolling ways, opting instead to maim and often decapitate ...
