The role of Digitonthophagus gazella on pasture cleaning and production as a result of burial of cattle dung

Coprophagous dung beetles play an important role, due to their capacity of incorporating fresh faeces to the soil. Usually, dung beetles dig a hole underneath the faeces patch carrying portions of dung to as deep as 30 cm and making dung balls in which eggs are deposited. On hatching, the larvae eat from the dung balls until they reach adult stage, when they leave the balls to fulfill their biological cycle. A large part of the buried material mineralizes in a short time, releasing significant amounts of N and P.