At only 2cm in size, the Minotaur beetle is a mini yet mighty insect that plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems.  

These amazing beetles bury balls of dung from various herbivores, like rabbits and sheep, in underground burrows up to 1.5m deep. That’s a mighty feat for such a small beetle. It’s like a human digging a tunnel as deep as the Statue of Liberty is tall! Their burrowing helps air get into the soil and adds organic material, making the soil better at holding water and providing nutrients. Healthier soil, happier plants. 

Making a home in dung may seem strange to us, but for these beetles, it’s essential to their lives. Minotaur beetles’ larvae feed on the dung in their burrows, emerging as adults in the autumn, ready to breed in early winter. By the next summer, the cycle is complete, and the adults die, leaving the next generation to take their place. 

Males live up to their namesake with three front-facing horns, which they use to protect their nests. Females lack horns but have pointed edges on the front corners of their pronotum (the plate-like structure that covers the thorax). 

They prefer short, grazed turf on sandy soils, so keep an eye out for these mighty beetles next time you’re on grassland and heathland. However, the Minotaur Beetle is facing threats from the use of pesticides in intensive farming and worming treatments for livestock that make dung toxic. But all is not lost. In October, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust will be carrying out surveys at Allestree Park to check for the presence of this mini but mighty species. Trained ecologists will be placing pit fall traps around the park, using the widely available rabbit dung that Minotaur Beetles favour, and routinely checking for activity. We are hoping that this mini but mighty species will be able to have a transformative effect at Allestree Park with healthier soils being the foundation to nature thriving.