Scarabaeus sacer, common name Sacred scarab, is a species of dung beetle belonging to the family 'Scarabaeidae'.

Scarabaeus sacer occurs in coastal dunes and marshes around the Mediterranean Basin. It can be found across North Africa, southern Europe and parts of Asia (Afghanistan, Corsica, Cyprus, Ethiopia, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Sardinia, Sicily, Sudan and Syria). In the Camargue, the Scarabaeus sacer is almost exclusively a coastal species, living only in dunes and coastal marshes.

The head of Scarabaeus sacer has a distinctive array of six projections, resembling rays.

The projections are uniform with four more projections on each of the tibiae of the front legs, creating an arc of fourteen "rays" (see illustration). Functionally the projections are adaptations for digging and for shaping the ball of dung.

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