Beetle (and mites?) for ID

[djeyewater]

There was a beetle flying round my light last night so I caught it in a jar, but today it was dead. However, I found there were some other little insects in there with it, which I guess were mites that had been living on the beetle? The 3 small ones all looked dead, but the big one was moving around a bit.

The beetle was about 14mm long, the big mite about 2mm, and the small mites about 1mm (I've added a ruler in the mite photos to show the scale).

Beetle


Mite 1


Mite 2 (big one)


Mite 3


Mite 4


Cheers

Dave

[Rossco]

This looks like the dung beetle - Colobopterus fossor. They always have mites associated with them, but I've no idea what species they may be.

[Dogghound]

Aphodius rufipes.

A.fossor is much darker and alot more bulky.

[Rossco]

Is A. rufipes 14mm long? I thought Aphodius spp. were about 5 or 6mm?

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Rossco

Is A. rufipes 14mm long? I thought Aphodius spp. were about 5 or 6mm?

A.rufipes is a large species usually around 9-14mm. Not all Aphodius are so small. A.fossor is infact a similar size to rufipes but more round and wide. Alot of the other species do range between 4 and 7mm.

[djeyewater]

Thanks for the id, using that I found out some information about the mites (that they aren't parasites, but feed on mould that would spoil the dung as the beetle's larvae's food source).

Is it possible to say whether the large mite is a different species to the 3 smaller mites?

Thanks

Dave

[Dogghound]

I dont know much about mites, but looking at it, its either a different species, a different sex or a different age.