A droppings mallet is easy enough to picture : a squat , shiny lilliputian bug unfalteringly pushing its smelly treasure homeward . We see themrolling their ballsof dung across burning Egyptian sands , or under a hedge in the grassland of Kenya . But a European dung mallet ? That ’s a little harder to imagine .
It should n’t be . Dung mallet hold up onevery continent except Antarctica . They ’re literally all over the place , tidying up after larger animate being from China to Peru . There aremore than 100 speciesof dung beetle in the UK alone .
Sally - Ann Spence hopes to determine them all . Spence is a investigator with the Dung Beetle UK Mapping Project , or DUMP ( credibly not an stroke ) . The goal of DUMP is to make an enormous database of selective information on UK dung beetles . The beetles have enormous time value , and not just to scientists ; dung beetle keep open UK cattle ranchers an estimated£367 million($550 million USD ) each year . All their burrowing into the ground activate the soil , which lets rainwater and nutrients ooze in .
Spence and her colleague offer their own clip to conduct the research — inquiry that often involves comb through cow pies . “ We have become connoisseurs of fine dung , ” Spencetold the BBC . “ [ We ’re ] not adverse [ sic ] to feel the grain or give it a good sniff — you may tell a lot about an animate being ’s wellness by its dung — we will canvas it meticulously for beetles . "
It was during one of these examinations that Spence foundAphodius affinis . Spence was on theisland of Jerseyfor another research project and resolve to do a little poke around . The reward for her curiosity was a single specimen ofA. affinis , a beetle so little it could fit on the tip of a pinky .
The mallet is the first of its kind ever spotted on the island , a fact that excited local entomologist . Roger Long is chairwoman of theSociété Jersiaise ’s entomology section . “ droppings beetle are very important to the health of oxen herds and the meadows they feed in , ” he tell theJersey Evening Post . “ If we had no droppings beetles , fields would be knee - trench in Bos taurus droppings . ”
