Aphodius rufipes and mites

Aphodius rufipes and mites

Description

Title:
Aphodius rufipes and mites
Caption / Description:

Aphodius rufipes is a dung beetle, feeding on horse, sheep, and cattle dung. At night it can fly great distances in search of new food sources, but it is attracted to light, and so can often be found flying into houses or gardens at night, despite no food sources being nearby.

The female beetle lays its eggs in dung, which the larvae also use as their food source. Aphodius rufipes beetles are often host to small brown mites, these mites are actually beneficial to the beetle as they feed on moulds that would otherwise spoil the dung as the food source for the beetle's larvae. The mites cling to the underside and legs of the beetle, and so travel to new food sources along with the beetle.

Aphodius rufipes indivduals range in size from 9-14mm, and are coloured dark brown to black. The wing cases (elytra) are ridged, while the pronotum is finely punctured with a few larger punctures.

Tags / Keywords:
  • Biota
  • Life
  • Vitae
  • Eukaryota
  • Animalia
  • Animals
  • Arthropoda
  • Arthropods
  • Insecta
  • Insects
  • Coleoptera
  • Beetles
  • Aphodius rufipes
  • Aphodiidae
  • Aphodius
  • Mites

Admin

Date Original Photo Taken:
Original File Name:
_MG_3964.CR2
Event:
Rating:
Date this image added/last updated on website:
Original File Dimensions:
4272px x 2848px
File Type:
JPEG
Color Mode:
RGB
Original Image Color Profile:
Adobe RGB (1998)

Location

Location Created:
Sublocation:
City:
Market Harborough
Province/State:
Leicestershire
Country:
United Kingdom
World Region:
Europe
Geo-location:

Rights

Copyright Status:
Copyrighted
Licensing Status:
Rights Managed
Available for Editorial Use:
Yes
Available for Commercial Use:
Yes
Copyright Notice:
© 2010 Dave Kennard

Camera Data

Date Digital Resource was created:
Shutter speed:
1200 s
Aperture:
f/8
Camera Model:
Canon EOS 450D
ISO:
100
Exposure Compensation:
0
Focal Length:
65mm
Focal Length (35mm equiv.):
Metering Mode:
Multi-segment
Flash:
On, Fired
Exposure Mode:
Manual
White Balance:
Manual
Light Source:
Exposure Program:
Manual

Additional shooting metadata

Lens:
Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 1-5x Macro
Filters used:
Additional Optics used:
Setup:
Handheld
Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Flash with home-made concave diffusers

Post Processing

Image Modified:
Software used:
  • Adobe Camera RAW
Post Processing: