Great black dung beetle (Copris ochus)

Japanese: ダイコクコガネ(大黒金亀子) - ダイコクコガネ（英語表記）Copris ochus

This is the largest dung beetle (a scarab beetle that feeds on animal dung) of the family Scarabaeidae in the order Coleoptera that lives in Japan, with a body length of 20 to 30 mm (illustration). Males have protrusions on their head and thorax, but the size of these varies from individual to individual. It is distributed in Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and even the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China. It lives in pastures in the low mountain zone and foothills, and is most common in June and July. Adults fly actively at sunset and also fly in at light. When the adult flies to cow or horse dung, it digs a hole under the dung and stuffs it with dung, eating it all before moving on to new dung.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

甲虫目コガネムシ科の日本に生息する最大の糞虫(獣糞を食物とするコガネムシ)で，体長20～30mm（イラスト）。雄は頭と胸に突起があるが，その大きさには個体差がある。北海道，本州，九州のほか，朝鮮半島および中国東北部まで分布する。低山帯や山ろく帯の放牧地に生息し，6～7月ころにもっとも多く出現する。成虫は日没時に活発に飛翔（ひしよう）し，明りにも飛来する。牛や馬の糞に飛来した成虫は糞の下に穴を掘り糞を詰め込み，それを食べつくすと新しい糞に移る。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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