What a Beetle’s Genital Worms Reveal About the Concept of Individuality
Dung beetles sexually transmit nematodes, and that’s a good thing—for them, and their young.
When Cristina Ledón-Rettig first noticed worms in the little balls of poop, she thought something had gone wrong.
Ledón-Rettig studies dung beetles, and she breeds one species—the —in her lab at Indiana University. That involves collecting fresh cow dung, wringing out some of the moisture through cheesecloth, partitioning it into small balls, and putting a single beetle egg on each one. This simulates the “brood balls” that wild beetles naturally prepare for their young. One day, Ledón-Rettig noticed that the artificial brood balls were full of
