John Feehan recently made an exciting discovery. He found and harvested the dung beetle, Onitis pecuarius, while visiting a property in south-eastern New South Wales.

John was involved in the breeding of this particular species at the CSIRO some forty years ago.  He released a colony on a property owned by the McCoy family at Nelligen in the 1970s whence the species has spread successfully across south-eastern New South Wales.

This represents the first occasion when this species has been successfully harvested and relocated to a distant site.

O pecuarius is now so well established in this area that John was able to harvest 800 beetles in only 90 minutes.  The species is now available for sale and distribution to areas that are climatically suitable to it.