Scarabaeus sacer
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Scarabaeus sacer, common name sacred scarab, is the type species of the genus Scarabaeus and the family Scarabaeidae. This dung beetle is native to southern Europe, North Africa, West Asia, and was venerated in ancient Egypt.
Scarabaeus sacer was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, the starting point of zoological nomenclature. It is considered the type species of the genus Scarabaeus, despite some controversy surrounding Latreille's 1810 type designation, which was resolved by a ruling of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 2014, to accept Hope's 1837 designation of S. sacer as the type rather than Latreille's 1810 designation (of Dynastes hercules).
Scarabaeus sacer is found in southern Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. It has been recorded from Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France (including Corsica), Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Jordan, India (Kashmir), Libya, Mauritania, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Pakistan, Romania, Portugal, Russia (southernmost), Saudi Arabia, Serbia... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sacred Scarab sighting in Doñana National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 66th most-seen of the 87 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February to April
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sacred Scarab in Doñana National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to January, the lowest months.
Only Doñana National Park, in our data
Doñana National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Sacred Scarab sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Scarabaeidae
The closest relatives of the Sacred Scarab that you can see in Doñana National Park (family Scarabaeidae, Scarabs) are Ateuchetus cicatricosus (about 30%), Mediterranean Spotted Chafer (about 10%) and Hairy Rose Beetle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sacred Scarab is recorded against all the insects logged in Doñana National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
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