After some research this morning, it looks the the beautiful micro-beast above goes by the less than glamorous name of an earth-boring dung beetle. I encountered this beetle while walking in the New Forest a couple of weeks ago. With his rich black carapace trimmed with iridescent blue and lined with orange, he probably prefers his Latin title, Geotrupes stercorarius (although it wouldn’t surprise me if this sounds equally risible to a fluent classicist).

Any entomologists out there who can confirm or deny my provisional identification?

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dung beetle

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geotrupes stercorarius