---
title: "What the sources say about the Sacred Scarab | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "41 claims from the Sacred Scarab profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Sacred Scarab (*Scarabaeus sacer*)

> 41 claims from the Sacred Scarab profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Sacred Scarab](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/sacred-scarab/)

## Sacer Dung Beetle. Burgas Regional Museum.

https://burgasmuseums.bg/en/encdetail/sacer-dung-beetle-170

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A museum in Bulgaria says the beetle can reach 35 to 38 mm long. | It can reaches a length of 35-38 mm. |
| tags: burrower | The wide flattened body has peculiar features specialized for digging: 6 lugs edge in front of the head and front legs with jagged shin. (note: task #1096: kept on the definition (excavating for a nursery): the body is built for digging and the ball is buried in the soil with the egg inside) |
| tags: burrower | They roll them to some distance, then bury them in the soil and lay their eggs inside. |

## Sullivan et al. (2016). Does one size suit all? Dung pad size and ball production by Scarabaeus sacer (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae). European Journal of Entomology.

https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2016.008

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A very large dung roller that shapes droppings into balls and holds heat in its thorax in flight. | Scarabaeus sacer , which is a very large roller (note: tagline; thorax heat claim below) |
| Sandy ground, in a discontinuous belt from southern Europe and northern Africa across central Asia to western China | Scarabaeus sacer has been reported from more than 30 countries in a discontinuous belt from the far west of southern Europe and northern Africa across central Asia to western China (note: stats.habitat) |
| It lives in sandy places. | Scarabaeus sacer inhabits sandy environments |
| Rolled dung balls of 16 to 86 cc in a Turkish study, and holds flight heat in its thorax | In the current study, ball volume ranged from 16 cc to 86 cc. (note: stats.superpower; thorax part claimed below) |
| a study in Turkey calls it a very large one | Scarabaeus sacer , which is a very large roller |
| the 30 balls it measured ranged from 16 cc to 86 cc in volume | For the 30 balls measured from the 5 pad sizes, volume ranged from 16 cc to 86 cc. |
| Citing a 1982 study, the same paper gives 30 g as the fresh weight of a ball made by a single sacred scarab. | For single beetles, fresh ball weight varied from 0.03 g in Sisyphus seminulum Gerstaecker [Cambefort (pers. obs.) in Hanski & Cambefort, 1991a] to 30 g in Scarabaeus sacer Linnaeus (Marsch, 1982) (note: the paper cites Marsch 1982; 'For single beetles' is the paper's scope) |
| It cites that study again for the three kinds of ball the beetle makes: food balls, brood balls and nuptial balls. | S. sacer produces brood, food and nuptial balls (Marsch, 1982) (note: the paper cites Marsch 1982) |
| The species has been reported from more than 30 countries in a discontinuous belt. | Scarabaeus sacer has been reported from more than 30 countries in a discontinuous belt |
| The belt runs from the far west of southern Europe and northern Africa across central Asia to western China. | from the far west of southern Europe and northern Africa across central Asia to western China |
| The Turkish study ran on a coastal sand dune, where free-ranging domestic water buffalo regularly leave dung pads. | The experiment was conducted along the exposed ridge line of a coastal sand dune ... Free-ranging, domesticated water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis Linnaeus) regularly deposit dung pads on the dune system |
| On the Turkish dune, over two nights in June, 98% of the balls were made at night | production was almost exclusively nocturnal (98%), with only 2 balls produced outside night hours (note: 'almost exclusively nocturnal (98%)': the figure is the claim; two nights and early June 2014 from the same paper's methods and results) |
| 59% of all balls came between 21.00 and 22.00 | with 59% of all balls produced between 21.00 and 22.00 |
| They gathered at eight of the larger pads, of 500 g to 2,000 g, which yielded six times as many balls as the other ten pads of those sizes. | aggregation of S. sacer at 8 pads of the 3 largest pad sizes, 500 g, 1,000 g and 2,000 g ... Six times as many balls were produced from these 8 pads as from the remaining 10 pads of those 3 sizes. |
| A 1994 study reported glands in both males and females, which may be responsible for chemical attraction and the crowding. | The presence of glandular structures in male and female S. sacer was reported by Pluot-Sigwalt (1994) and they may be responsible for chemical attraction and aggregation. (note: the paper cites Pluot-Sigwalt 1994; 'glands' for 'glandular structures') |
| Not Evaluated | Scarabaeus sacer has been reported from more than 30 countries (note: stats.conservationStatus: no Red List assessment found; GBIF has no category and Crossref has no assessment DOI for Scarabaeus sacer (prefetch 2026-10-06). Quote only anchors the species) |
| No. In the Turkish dune experiment it made balls from every pad size on offer, from 125 g to 2,000 g. | Scarabaeus sacer produced balls from all 5 sizes of ... dung pads from 125 g to 2,000 g. |
| The smallest pads gave up the biggest share of their dung to balls, at 43%. | the highest percentage utilisation was in the 125 g pads (43%) (note: 125 g is the smallest pad size and 43% the highest percentage, per the quoted line) |
| water buffalo droppings | water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis Linnaeus) regularly deposit dung pads on the dune system between a large freshwater lake and the sea, attracting large numbers of S. sacer (note: stats.diet) |
| over two nights in June | in early June, 2014 (note: study date) |
| Other studies have also recorded it active at dusk and by day. | it has also been recorded as crepuscular (Lumaret, 1990; Verdú et al . , 2004) and diurnal (note: crepuscular = active at dusk; the paper cites other studies) |
| On the Turkish dune the beetles also crowded together. | the aggregation of S. sacer at 8 pads of the 3 largest pad sizes |
| 98% of the balls were made at night | production was almost exclusively nocturnal (98%), with only 2 balls produced outside night hours (note: vibe.reason animal clause; same quote as the body claim) |

## Verdú, Alba-Tercedor & Jiménez-Manrique (2012). Evidence of Different Thermoregulatory Mechanisms between Two Sympatric Scarabaeus Species Using Infrared Thermography and Micro-Computer Tomography. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033914

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| holds heat in its thorax | S. sacer presents an anatomical design that is able to sequester heat within the meso- and metathorax (note: tagline) |
| Dung, such as horse and water buffalo droppings | collected in June 2010 and 2011 directly from the surface of horse droppings (note: stats.diet; buffalo half claimed below) |
| A roller is a dung beetle that cuts off a piece of dung, rolls it some distance away from the pile and buries it. | rollers (dung beetles that remove a portion of dung from the mass, roll it some distance away from the source and then bury it) (note: paraphrase of the source definition) |
| In Spain's Doñana National Park, the beetle is active from April to July. | Scarabaeus sacer and S. cicatricosus are active from April to July in the Doñana National Park |
| In lab flights by beetles caught in Doñana, its thorax ran 5.6°C warmer than its abdomen on average. | Scarabaeus sacer showed a difference between T thorax and T abdomen of 5.6°C in average (note: warmer: the thorax is the main heat generation centre (verdu-2012, claimed below), so the 5.6 C difference runs thorax hotter) |
| Its tracheal system and air sacs took up 11.66% of its body volume, against 2.79% in a close relative, S. cicatricosus. | %V air vs. V T 11.66±2.75 2.79±1.46 <0.01 (note: Table 2 'Tracheal and air sac volume', %V air vs V T; sacer first, cicatricosus second. Beetles collected in Doñana (methods)) |
| Before takeoff the beetle shivers its wing muscles to warm up, which makes sure its thorax is hot enough to launch. | the typical warm-up, which implies wing muscle vibrations (wing-shivering) ... Pre-flight warm-up ensures that T thorax is sufficiently high for takeoff (note: "before" paraphrases "pre-flight") |
| In flight the thorax is the main heat generation centre, and the abdomen does not actively dump that heat. | the thorax is the main heat generation centre and the thermoregulation is limited by the use of the abdomen as a ‘passive thermal window’; abdomen does not actively dissipate the increase of T thorax generated during flight |
| Researchers call this a passive thermal window. | the use of the abdomen as a ‘passive thermal window’ |
| The study suggests the beetle's abdominal air sacs, bigger than its relative's, may work as insulation. | S. sacer have a significant greater development of abdominal air sacs than S. cicatricosus ... suggesting the existence of a heat insulator mechanism (note: source text reads 'that suggesting the existence of a heat insulator mechanism') |
| an abdomen that does not actively shed heat raises the danger of overheating when the air sits around 35 to 40°C | abdomen does not actively dissipate the increase of T thorax generated during flight, thus increasing the danger of overheating when T ambient oscillates around 35–40°C |
| From April to July, in Doñana National Park. | Scarabaeus sacer and S. cicatricosus are active from April to July in the Doñana National Park |
| The beetles used in the heat study were collected there in June 2010 and 2011, straight off horse droppings. | Individuals of both species were collected in June 2010 and 2011 directly from the surface of horse droppings |
| In Doñana, Scarabaeus cicatricosus is more active in the warmer hours of the day, while S. sacer avoids them. | daily temporal segregation with S. cicatricosus being more active during warmer hours of the day in opposition to S. sacer who avoid it |
| Their bodies handle heat in different ways, which gives each its own thermal niche. | interspecific interactions between sympatric species are regulated by very different mechanisms. These mechanisms create unique thermal niches for the different species |