Acrossus rufipes

Formerly placed withini the genus Aphodius. One of the commoner beetles in my moth trap, and easily the commonest dung beetle coming to light round here. Mike Hackston's key (which uses the former name Aphodius rufipes) requires the upper spur of the tip of the hind tibiae as long as the first segment of the hind tarsus but in my experience it's not always quite as long. Also the inner edge of the side border of the pronotum seems pretty well-grooved to me, at least on some, which it isn't meant to be. It also requires the beetle to be at least 10mm long, wherease smaller rufipes can be little over 9mm. None of these issues are encountered when using the Andrew Duff's key (he gives the lower end of the size range for rufipes as 9mm) though a minority of individuals fall foul of his description of the punctures on the pronotum, having a tiny number of punctures on the disc that were clearly larger than the majority. In this case Hackston's key worked better for that characteristic.

One of the commoner beetles in my moth trap, and easily the commonest dung beetle coming to light round here.

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 25th May 2019

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 30th September 2023

2x Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 12th October 2022

Acrossus rufipes, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 8th September 2023

Acrossus rufipes, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 1st September 202e

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 5th August 2018

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 28th June 2022

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 26th July 2018

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 30th July 2018

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 5th August 2018

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 27th September 2022

2x Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 17th August 2017

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 14th July 2017

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 12th August 2018

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 1st August 2017

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 14th July 2017

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 14th August 2017

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 12th June 2017

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 9th September 2021

Acrossus rufipes, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 1st September 2021

Acrossus rufipes, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 23rd September 2023

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 31st July 2021

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 16th October 2021

The following individuals were photographed before I had done much beetle identification and I don't think I attempted to key them out. I worked out that they were likely to be this species, but looking back at the photos I think we can be more confident about them.

Acrossus rufipes, Bawdeswell (Norfolk, UK), 8th August 2008

Acrossus rufipes, Blickling (Norfolk, UK), 20th August 2011

Acrossus rufipes, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 2nd September 2014