# The Distribution, Habitat, Diet and Forensic Significance of the Scarab Frankenbergerius forcipatus (Harold, 1881) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

> What turns up at a carcass, and when, can help forensic investigators read a death scene. Researchers who left three dead dogs on hilltops near Grahamstown, South Africa, found 33 of a little-known dung beetle three weeks later, feeding on the stomach contents rather than the flesh. It is the first record of what this beetle eats, and it extends the species’ known range by about 100 km.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2012-midgley-collett-distribution-habitat-diet-forensic/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** John M. Midgley, Isabel J. Collett and Martin H. Villet
- **Year published:** 2012
- **Journal or source:** African Invertebrates
- **Full citation:** Midgley, J. M., Collett, I. J. and Villet, M. H. 2012. The distribution, habitat, diet and forensic significance of the scarab Frankenbergerius forcipatus (Harold, 1881) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). African Invertebrates 53(2): 745–749.
- **DOI:** 10.5733/afin.053.0214
- **Access status:** Publisher link only
- **Where to find it:** https://doi.org/10.5733/afin.053.0214

## Tags

- **Species:** Invertebrates > Dung beetle
- **Region:** Africa > South Africa
- **Behaviour and ecology:** Behaviour; Feeding; Scavenging
- **Methods and technology:** DNA
- **Data type:** Existing data; New field data
- **Observer qualification:** Not needed
- **Discipline:** Behaviour and ecology; Forensics; Taphonomy
- **Year published:** 2012

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** Studied: the dung beetle Frankenbergerius forcipatus (a scarab, family Scarabaeidae; no common name given). Carrion used: three small domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) that had already died. Other insects on the carcasses, not studied: histerid, trogid and staphylinid beetles, the silphid Thanatophilus mutilatus, the clerid Necrobia rufipes, the dermestid Dermestes maculatus, and a few muscid fly larvae (Hydrotaea sp.); no blowfly maggots. Mentioned for comparison: Frankenbergerius armatus and F. gomesi (collected from fungus; F. armatus also from rotting Cussonia fruit) and the carrion-attracted dung beetle Anachalcos convexus.
- **Location and habitat:** Two sites near Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa: near Jameson Dam (33°19’49’‘S 26°26’16’‘E) and near Waainek (33°18’48’‘S 26°31’07’’E). Hill crests with a mix of fynbos and grassland (Suurberg Quartzite Fynbos), low shrubs under 30 cm and sparse grass; carcasses in somewhat shaded spots. Earlier records cited: Pirie Forest, Rustenburg, Cathedral Peak and Giant’s Castle. Museum collections checked: Albany Museum (Grahamstown), Ditsong National Museum of Natural History and the South African National Collection of Insects (Pretoria).
- **Topics:** forensic entomology; carrion insect communities; dung beetles on carrion; diet and gut contents; generalist feeding on decaying material; stages of decay (wet decay); late colonisers of carcasses; post-mortem interval; range extension; habitat; museum specimen records; DNA barcoding (cytochrome oxidase I gene).
- **Statistics or models:** None
- **Data type:** New field data: dog carcasses placed on 21 February 2011 and sampled once, three weeks later. Existing data: museum collections and published records.

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

Forensic investigators use insects to help work out what happened to a body, but this depends on knowing which insects turn up on dead animals and when. Flies on carcasses are well recorded in Africa; beetles much less so. Nothing had been published about the biology of the dung beetle Frankenbergerius forcipatus.

The authors placed the carcasses of three small dogs, already dead and slightly bloated, on hill crests at two sites near Grahamstown in South Africa’s Eastern Cape (one dog near Jameson Dam, two together near Waainek). Three weeks later they sampled the beetles once. They identified the beetles under a microscope, examined their gut contents, and sequenced part of a gene (cytochrome oxidase I) from some specimens. They also searched three South African insect collections for more specimens of the genus.

### 2. What they found

- Numbers: 33 Frankenbergerius forcipatus: 11 males and 11 females at Jameson Dam, and 4 males and 7 females at Waainek. No mating pairs or nesting were seen.

- Where on the carcass: the beetles were in the decomposing stomach region and in the loosened soil beneath, and seemed linked to the stomach contents rather than the flesh.

- Other insects: many histerid, trogid and staphylinid beetles, and some silphid, clerid and dermestid beetles and a few muscid fly larvae, mostly in the soil under the carcasses. There were no blowfly maggots.

- Diet: under 5% of the gut contents stained for chitin, a marker of fungi, so very little fungus had been eaten. There were no mushrooms or moulds at the carcasses.

- DNA: 12 partial gene sequences were lodged in GenBank. They varied by only 0.19%.

- Museum collections: no specimens beyond those already published were found.

- Range: the new sites lie close to 100 km south-west of the previous most south-westerly record (Pirie Forest).

- Habitat: both sites were a mix of fynbos and grassland, not forest, the habitat previously suggested for the species.

### 3. What they concluded

- The species is not tied only to forests. All five known localities are moist, hilly or mountainous, so it may live in such habitats generally.

- This is the first confirmed collection of F. forcipatus from any potential food source, and only the fourth for any species in the genus.

- The beetles appeared to feed on the dog’s stomach contents rather than its flesh, suggesting a generalist feeder on decaying material that uses carrion when available. The earlier idea that it eats mushrooms is not supported for now.

- It belongs to the community of insects present during the wet stage of decay, and probably arrives only once tissue has decayed extensively, making it a late coloniser. This makes it useful to forensic entomologists estimating time since death in what are likely to be the mountainous parts of eastern South Africa.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- Identification with a published key, a dissecting microscope and, where needed, dissection of the genitalia; confirmed by a specialist at the national insect collection.

- Gut contents stained with aniline blue to detect chitin from fungal cell walls.

- DNA extracted and a section of the cytochrome oxidase I gene sequenced, with sequences lodged in GenBank.

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: The Distribution, Habitat, Diet and Forensic Significance of the Scarab Frankenbergerius forcipatus (Harold, 1881) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) (Midgley and Collett et al., 2012). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/2012-midgley-collett-distribution-habitat-diet-forensic/