Decomposers+and+Detritivores

__**Cleo Yahn and Will DuBose **__

**Dung Beetle:** //(Insect)// __Range:__ They are found anywhere there is animal poop, since that is there main food source. They are found in surplus on farms, and in sewage areas. They are on the soil/ground. __Diet:__ They eat animal excrement 24-7. They roll it up and feed off of it, decomposing it in the processes. **Centipedes:** //(Insect)// __Diet:__ They feed on small animals, like reptiles, and earthworms provide the volume of their diet. __Range:__ They are found in moist microhabitats: forests, savannahs, and deserts. They live outside, and are seen on the ground floor.

**Woodlice:** //(Insect)// __Diet:__ Woodlice feed mostly on dead plant matter, although they can feed on cultivated plants, for example ripening strawberries and immature seedlings. __Range__: Woodlice live in a terrestrial environment, they like damp, dark places. They can be found under rocks, or logs.

**Termites:** //(Insect)// __Diet:__ They eat wood, and other plant matter. <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Range:__They favor subtropics and tropic areas. Termites burrow themselves in the walls of houses, eating up the damp wood and reproducing. They are most commonly found in the wood of houses.

<span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Cockroaches:** <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//(Insect)// <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Diet:__ These insects can actually digest cellulose, so they are omnivores. <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Range:__Cockroaches live in a wide range of environments around the world. Pest species of cockroaches adapt readily to a variety of environments, but prefer warm conditions found within buildings. Many tropical species prefer even warmer environments and do not fare well in the average household.

<span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**House Dust Mites:** <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//(Insect)// <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Diet:__ Dust mites feed on organic detritus such as flakes of shed human skin, or other human matter. <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Range:__The house dust mite survives in all climates, even at high altitudes. Dust mites like the indoors, within houses, they favor the kitchens and the bedrooms. More specifically they thrive in carpets, sheets, pillows and mattresses. They can also survive in arid places, getting moisture from the air.

<span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**L** **and** **Snails:** <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//(Insect)// <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Land Snails are the minority of the three snails species: land, sea, and freshwater. They are by no means endangered, but they are of less populace compared to the other types. <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Range:__ Active at night they can be found anywhere, on houses, on the ground, on plants. When it rains, snails really come out of their shells. <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Diet:__Plants, fruits, vegetables, and algae make up the diet of a land snail. They are herbivores, so they won’t ever consume meat. They need to have a diet with a high amount of calcium for their shells.

<span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Black Widow Spider:** <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//(Insect)// <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Range:__ The black widow is found in temperate regions all over the world. They are in places like crevasses of buildings, in thick hedges, along walls, and in forests. They are everywhere! <span style="color: #348000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Diet:__ They prey on flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars.

Earthworms- Range: Soil in any area without extreme climates, slight moisture is preferred. Diet: They feed on decomposing soil, and the nutrients in decomposing soil.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Turkey vulture- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Range: Many different habitats from to savannas and grasslands, to tropical and temperate forests. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Diet: Feeds on any decomposing meat it can find.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Catfish- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Range: on the bottom of fresh bodies of water, in this area. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Diet: Feeds on other animal’s defecation on the bottom of the body of water. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Info: Catfish feed through suction, they suck in the food that they want with a very broad mouth that can open very wide. Catfish are one of the few fish that do not have scales, they are covered in mucus. Despite the seeming grossness of this animal we eat it, even as a delicacy in the south east. This is most likely because of the size that catfish can get to, almost 2 meters on average.