What does it do with dung?

Drags it down a tunnel under the dropping

Woodland Dor Beetle

Anoplotrupes stercorosus

The woodland dor beetle (Anoplotrupes stercorosus) is a round, shiny black beetle, 12–19 mm long, with a metallic blue underside. It lives on the floor of European forests, from the lowlands up to about 2,000 m. It is an earth-boring dung beetle (family Geotrupidae): instead of rolling balls, it digs tunnels under dung and packs them with food for its larvae, and it also eats carrion, rotting fungi and leaf mould.

Also known as Dor beetle, Forest dung beetle, Waldmistkäfer (German: “forest dung beetle”)

Woodland dor beetle abilities

≈30 cm tunnel depth under the dung
Dor beetles don’t roll dung away. They dig straight down beneath it and drag it into their tunnel.
- Females burrow to a depth of about 30 cm below herbivore dung, depending on the soil.
- The pair works as a team: the female digs underground and the male carries out the soil.
- Their legs are built for dragging food down a burrow rather than rolling it.
- Some relatives in the same family dig burrows more than 2 m deep.
How deep do they dig?
Woodland dor beetle tunnel≈30 cm
Deepest burrows in its familyover 2 m
Depth depends on the soil.
Sources [1, 4, 5, 8]
1 egg per chamber
Each brood chamber gets one egg and a packed store of dung, so the larva has its own pantry.
- Several side tunnels branch off the main one, and each ends in a chamber.
- The female lays one egg in each chamber, and dung is packed in as food for the larva.
- The larva takes about a year to grow. It spends the winter as a larva and becomes a pupa the next spring.
- New adults appear in summer but are not ready to breed until the following spring.
Sources [1, 4]
24 carrion smells detected
Its antennae pick up the smells of dung and of dead animals, and lead it to food that won’t last long.
- It is the most common dung beetle found on dead animals in German forests.
- Its antennae reacted to 24 smell chemicals from decaying bodies in lab tests.
- In the forest, a mix of 3 of these chemicals was enough to attract them.
- Scientists think eating many kinds of food helps explain why it is so common in European forests.
Sources [3]
5 kinds of mite found riding on it
Tiny mites and microscopic roundworms ride around on dor beetles, using them as a taxi.
- Riding on another animal to travel is called phoresy.
- Beetles from a Polish forest carried 5 kinds of mite, most often in June, July and September.
- Scientists collected 5,002 roundworms from 114 beetles. Some beetles had none, one had more than 1,000.
Roundworm passengers per beetle
Most on one beetleover 1,000
Average (5,002 on 114 beetles)≈44
Some beetles carried none at all.
Sources [6, 7]
2 sound organs on every beetle
Dor beetles squeak by rubbing a ridged file against a hard edge. They do it when courting, and when they are picked up.
- Unusually, every beetle has two sound organs, built differently and in different places.
- One is a file on each back hip, about 1.4–1.5 mm long with around 90 ridges, scraped by the thick edge of a belly plate.
- The other is a 1.8 mm hairy patch on the side of the belly, rubbed against scales under the wing cases.
- Males and females both squeak. Larvae of at least one related dor beetle make sounds too.
Ridges on the hip sound file
Females≈92
Males≈87
Average counts; females’ files are slightly longer too (1.48 mm vs 1.38 mm).
Sources [1, 9]
Twilight when adults fly
Around twilight, dor beetles lift their wing cases, unfold their flight wings and fly low over woods and pastures.
- Adults fly around twilight, low over dung in pastures, over moorland and through woodland.
- The flight wings are kept folded under the hard wing cases the rest of the time.
- They mostly stay in forests: in a study in central Russia from 2007 to 2023 they were rarely caught in open habitats.
Sources [4, 10]
62% of test dung cleared in closed forest
By eating and burying dung, carrion and rotting fungi, dor beetles help recycle nutrients back into the forest soil.
- In German forest plots, beetles cleared 61.9% of test dung under closed canopy, but only 48.5% in clearings about 30 m wide.
- The drop happened mainly because clearings had fewer woodland dor beetles, a big, key forest species.
- Large tunnelling dung beetles like this family play a central role in removing dung and recycling nutrients, and dung beetles also mix and loosen the soil (bioturbation).
- Besides dung, it eats carrion, leaf-litter mould and decomposing fungi.
Test dung removed in German forests
Closed forest61.9%
Forest clearing (≈30 m)48.5%
Staab et al. 2022, 29 sites in three regions of Germany.
Sources [2, 11, 12, 13]

Tap a pin on the model or a part below.

24 carrion smells its antennae picked up
- Its antennae are reddish brown, a nice contrast with the black body.
- In lab tests, the antennae reacted to 24 different chemicals given off by decaying animal bodies.
- A blend of just 3 of those smells was enough to lure the beetles in German forests.
Sources [1, 2, 3]
- It eats animal dung and carrion, and also mould from leaf litter, rotting fungi such as the stinkhorn, and sometimes tree sap.
- Next to the mouth are small feelers called palps, tipped with sense organs.
- When a male meets a female, he taps her with these palps.
Sources [1, 2]
7 grooves on each wing case
- The hard wing cases (elytra) are black with a metallic blue sheen, and each has 7 lightly dotted grooves.
- Along their sides the wing cases can shine blue, violet or green.
- Thin flight wings stay folded underneath until the beetle takes off, usually around twilight.
Sources [1, 2, 4]
Metallic blue underside
- Turn it over and the underside is bright metallic blue, sometimes violet or green.
- Its two sound organs are on the underside too: a ridged file on each back hip and a hairy patch at the side of the belly.
- Old names for colour forms, such as var. viridis (green) and var. amoethystinus (amethyst), are no longer used: they are all the same species.
Sources [1, 2, 4]
- Its legs are built for dragging dung straight down a tunnel. Scientists found that the angles its leg joints can open to differ strongly from those of ball-rolling scarabs.
- The front shins end in a slightly pointed tooth.
- Each back shin has only 2 cross-ridges. The very similar common dung beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius) has 3, which helps experts tell them apart.
Sources [1, 2, 5]
>1,000 tiny worms found on one beetle
- Tiny mites ride on dor beetles. This kind of hitchhiking is called phoresy.
- A study in a Polish forest found 5 kinds of mite on them, most often in June, July and September.
- Microscopic roundworms (nematodes) hitch rides too: one beetle carried more than 1,000 of them.
Sources [6, 7]
- Adults feed on dung, carrion and rotting fungi, so their gut handles some very messy meals.
- Inside, some beetles carry tiny single-celled parasites and the young stages of tapeworms.
- These inside guests were more common in beetles from rich forest soils.
Sources [2, 6]
≈30 cm tunnel depth
- In spring, a female digs a tunnel about 30 cm down beneath herbivore dung, depending on the soil.
- She does the digging underground while the male carries the loose soil out.
- Side tunnels end in brood chambers, each with one egg and a store of dung.
Sources [1, 4]

Real woodland dor beetles

Photos from Wikimedia Commons. Some of them can repaint the 3D model.

AdultBlack above with a metallic blue sheen, bright metallic blue below, 12–19 mm long.The usual look on forest pathsOn the leaf litter of a forest floor. Photo: Mathias Krumbholz, CC BY-SA 3.0
AdultBlack above with a metallic blue sheen, bright metallic blue below, 12–19 mm long.The usual look on forest pathsNear Segonzano, Trentino, Italy. Photo: Syrio, CC BY-SA 4.0
A pair in their natural habitatPhoto: I naturen, CC BY-SA 4.0
Steinbachtal, Saarbrücken, GermanyPhoto: Flocci Nivis, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bois des Mazuis, Vitrival, BelgiumPhoto: DidierFy, CC BY-SA 4.0
Refugio de Gabardito, Aragon, SpainPhoto: S. Rae, CC BY 2.0
Taking flight: the wing cases lift and the flight wings unfoldPhoto: Entomart, Attribution
Minotaur beetleTyphaeus typhoeus, a cousin in the same family, 15–24 mm long. Males have three horns on the thorax; females have pointed bumps.Packs rabbit droppings into “dung sausages” for its larvaeCousin: a male minotaur beetle, southwest France. Photo: Siga, CC BY-SA 3.0

Woodland dor beetle by the numbers

Measured by scientists and wildlife recorders, with comparisons you can picture.

Length: 12–19 mm; a little smaller than the common dung beetle⁠[2, 1, 14]; Woodland dor beetle (max)19 mmMinotaur beetle (max)24 mm
Tunnel depth: ≈30 cm; below the dung, depending on the soil⁠[4]
Eggs per chamber: 1; each with its own store of dung⁠[1]
Time as a larva: ≈1 year; it spends the winter as a larva⁠[1]
Active: March–autumn; busiest in late spring and late summer⁠[4, 10]
Furthest north: ≈67°N; from Europe east to western Siberia⁠[1]
Highest: ≈2,000 m; from the lowlands up into the mountains⁠[1]
Sound organs: 2; a hip file with about 90 ridges, plus a hairy belly patch⁠[1]
Mite hitchhikers: 5 kinds; in one Polish forest study⁠[6]
Dung cleared: 61.9%; of test dung in closed German forest, vs 48.5% in clearings⁠[11]

Woodland dor beetle myths and facts

Tap Myth or Fact for each claim, then check the answer.

0 of 8 answered

“Woodland dor beetles roll balls of dung, like the sacred scarab.”
“A dor beetle can move more than 1,000 times its own weight.”
“Dor beetles only eat dung.”
“A dor beetle can squeak.”
“Dor beetles carry passengers.”
“Dor beetles are too heavy to fly.”
“Mum and dad dor beetle build the nursery together.”
“The woodland dor beetle is an endangered species.”

Woodland dor beetle records

Superlatives and record holders, each checked against its source.

Top dung beetle on carcasses
No. 1
Woodland dor beetle
the most common dung beetle found on dead animals in German forests⁠[3]
Most passengers on one beetle
over 1,000
One woodland dor beetle
microscopic roundworms, the top count among 114 beetles checked⁠[7]
Double sound system
2 organs
Woodland dor beetle
unusually, each beetle has two differently built sound organs in two places⁠[1]
Furthest north
≈67°N
Woodland dor beetle
its range reaches about 67° north⁠[1]
Deepest digging in the family
over 2 m
Some earth-boring dung beetles
burrows of some Geotrupidae go deeper than 2 m⁠[8]

A year in the life of a woodland dor beetle

From a grub in a dung-packed chamber to a squeaking, flying adult.

Winter
Resting underground
Larvae spend the winter in their chambers. Young adults wait out the cold in burrows too.⁠[1, 4]
Early spring
Waking up
Adults appear from March. Last year’s young adults are now ready to breed, and courting pairs squeak to each other.⁠[4, 1]
Spring
Digging the nursery
The female tunnels about 30 cm under dung while the male clears the soil. Each side chamber gets one egg and a dung store. Meanwhile last year’s larvae turn into pupae.⁠[4, 1]
Late spring
First busy peak
Activity peaks for the first time. In some forests there are one, two or even three peaks in a year.⁠[4, 10]
Summer
New adults
Adults from last year’s eggs climb out. Hitchhiking mites are most numerous in June, July and September.⁠[1, 6]
Late summer
Second busy peak
New and old beetles feed on dung, carrion and fungi and fly at twilight.⁠[4, 2]
Autumn
Slowing down
Beetles are still about until autumn, then head underground for the winter.⁠[4]

Woodland dor beetle vs scarab vs stag beetle

Three big European beetles with three very different ways of feeding their young.

Woodland dor beetle vs ball-rolling scarab vs stag beetle
	Woodland dor beetle	Sacred scarab	Stag beetle
Scientific name⁠[2, 16, 19]	Anoplotrupes stercorosus	Scarabaeus sacer	Lucanus cervus
Family⁠[8, 16, 19]	Geotrupidae (earth-boring dung beetles)	Scarabaeidae (scarabs)	Lucanidae (stag beetles)
Length⁠[2, 16, 20]	12–19 mm	19–40 mm	Varies a lot: bigger in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands than in the UK
What it does with food⁠[5, 16, 19]	Drags dung straight down a tunnel under the pile	Rolls a dung ball away, then buries it	Larvae eat rotting wood underground, not dung
Where the young grow⁠[4, 16, 20]	Dung-packed chambers about 30 cm down	Underground chamber with a dung brood ball	Decaying wood in the soil, often oak
Party trick⁠[1, 21, 19]	Squeaks with 2 sound organs	Ball-rollers steer by the Sun, Moon and even the Milky Way	Males wrestle with antler-like jaws
IUCN Red List⁠[18, 22, 23]	Not evaluated	Not evaluated	Least Concern (worldwide)

The Milky Way experiments were done on African ball-rolling dung beetles, relatives of the sacred scarab.

Is the woodland dor beetle endangered?

No. It is one of the most common beetles on European forest floors. But it needs shady forest, and it disappears from clearings and burned ground.

IUCN Red List

Not Evaluated (NE)

Trend unknown

Common and widespread, and called “super-dominant” in temperate European forests. A study in central Russia from 2007 to 2023 collected 6,738 of them from 256 habitats.⁠[18, 3, 10]

Not assessed by the IUCN Red List (checked October 2026).

Threats

Forest clearings61.9% → 48.5%
In German experiments, clearings about 30 m wide had fewer woodland dor beetles, and less test dung was removed.⁠[11]
Fire and open ground
Numbers were very low on burned areas, and the beetles were rarely found in open habitats.⁠[10]
Livestock medicines in dung
Low doses of ivermectin, a common livestock wormer, harmed the sense of smell and movement of another dung beetle. Woodland dor beetles live mainly in forests, but adults also fly over pastures.⁠[24, 4]
Farmland and towns
Across Bavaria, dung-visiting beetles were scarcer where farmland and settlements replaced natural habitats.⁠[13]

What’s helping

Keeping forests shady
It does best in mixed and broadleaf forests with plenty of shrubs and ground plants. In one big experiment, making production forests more patchy did not help dung beetles.⁠[10, 25]
Recording sightings
Local recording schemes such as NatureSpot map where it lives. Scientists are also testing it as an indicator of forest health.⁠[4, 10]

Relatives and rivals on this page

Minotaur beetleNot Evaluated
A horned cousin of sandy heaths and pine forests that stocks its nest with rabbit droppings.⁠[14, 15]
Stag beetleLeast Concern
Least Concern worldwide, but researchers think it may be declining across Europe.⁠[23, 20]
Sacred scarabNot Evaluated
The ball-roller revered in ancient Egypt has not been assessed either.⁠[22, 16]

Woodland dor beetle quiz

12 questions. Every answer is somewhere on this page.

Question 1 of 12Score 0

What colour is a woodland dor beetle’s underside?

Woodland Dor Beetle field notes

Diet, food web, safety and badges from the Snappit field guide.

Diet & Feeding

These amazing beetles feast on decaying plants and animal waste, helping keep our forests clean and healthy!

Primary Foods

Mammal Dung
Decaying Fungi
Rotting Leaves
Plant Sap
Foraging Method: Foraging

Age differences: Larvae feed exclusively on buried dung provided by their parents, while adults also consume fungi and rotting plant matter.

Ecological connections

Roe DeerDung source
Dung from herbivores such as roe deer feeds adults and larvae.

Safety

Danger 1/5 · Very low

These beetles are harmless, but it's best to observe them without touching.

Traits

Collections

Insects

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Geotrupidae
Genus: Anoplotrupes

Also known as

Dor beetle · Forest dung beetle · Waldmistkäfer (German: “forest dung beetle”) · Geotrupes stercorosus (older scientific name)

Sources for these woodland dor beetle facts

25 studies and references · checked Oct 16, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How to identify Woodland Dor Beetle?

Look for hard wing covers meeting in a line down the back, then compare the antennae, body shape, legs and markings. Metallic colors shift a lot with lighting. Beetle Identifier: upload a photo and compare the visible details.

What is Woodland Dor Beetle's wingspan?

20-30 mm

How big is Woodland Dor Beetle?

12-19 mm

How long does Woodland Dor Beetle live?

365-730 days

What does Woodland Dor Beetle eat?

These amazing beetles feast on decaying plants and animal waste, helping keep our forests clean and healthy!

Where is Woodland Dor Beetle usually found?

Forests

How many legs does Woodland Dor Beetle have?

What does a woodland dor beetle eat?

Mostly dung, but also carrion, mould from leaf litter, rotting fungi such as the stinkhorn, and sometimes tree sap. Its larvae eat the dung their parents pack into brood chambers.

Is a woodland dor beetle a dung-rolling scarab?

No. It belongs to the earth-boring dung beetles (Geotrupidae). It digs a tunnel under the dung and drags the dung down, instead of rolling a ball away like the sacred scarab.

Why does a dor beetle squeak?

It rubs a ridged file against a hard edge to make sounds. Pairs squeak during courtship, and a beetle squeaks in protest when picked up, so it is best to watch it without touching.

How big is a woodland dor beetle?

Adults are 12–19 mm long, a little smaller than the very similar common dung beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius).

Where do woodland dor beetles live?

In forests across Europe, east to western Siberia and north to about 67°N, from the lowlands up to about 2,000 m. They like damp broadleaf and mixed woods and are rare in open country.

Can dor beetles fly?

Yes. Adults fly around twilight, low over pastures, moorland and woodland, with flight wings that fold away under their hard wing cases.

What are the tiny things crawling on a dor beetle?

Usually mites hitching a ride, which is called phoresy. One Polish study found 5 kinds. Dor beetles also carry microscopic roundworms, sometimes more than 1,000 on one beetle.

Is the woodland dor beetle endangered?

No. The IUCN has not assessed it, but it is one of the most common beetles in European forests. It becomes scarce in forest clearings and on burned ground.

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