It's a DUNG BEETLE!

Congrats to all those who guessed correctly! As far as the drawing, I accepted scarab beetle, beetle, or any other kind of beetle, as a correct answer (you can now see the comments on the previous post).

The winner is... polkadotandpersian! One of my baby monsters will be on its way to you soon.

And now, for the rest of the beetle pictures! Many people guessed ant, but the antennae are the giveaway. Many beetles have lamellate antennae (the fringes at the end), while ants only have geniculate (kind of like an elbow) antennae. He does have a funny head, which some species are known to have.

His name is Danny, and he's for sale here!They are amazingly important little critters, along with the vast array of insects that act as the clean up crew of the world. Bacteria and microbes do most of the work of turning organic matter back into basic materials, but the insects are needed to break things down into manageable bits, or to bury them in the earth. Dung beetles eat dung, or roll it up into balls to bury in the soil. These serve as either stored food sources, or as brooding chambers for their young.