The sacred scarab (Scarabaeus sacer) is a dung beetle that was sacred to the ancient Egyptians and is depicted in many paintings and jewelry. Egyptian cosmogony includes the scarab beetle rolling a ball of dung, with the ball representing the Earth and the beetle the Sun. Each of the six legs have five segments, and the 30 total segments represent the 30 days of each month (technically, this species has only four segments per leg, but closely related ones do have five).