RESUMO: Starvation is a critical ecological stressor that influences survival, reproduction, and physiological condition in animals. In insects, the depletion of energetic reserves during food deprivation can affect their metabolic functions and ecological performance. Because dung beetles play essential roles in nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning, it is important to understand how they respond to prolonged food deprivation in order to evaluate their capacity to maintain these ecological services under stressful environmental conditions. In this study, we evaluated the effects of different starvation periods on the body condition of Dichotomius bos, a widespread Neotropical dung beetle. We tested how different food replacement intervals and starvation regimes affected beetle physiology: in food replacement treatments, dung was continuously available but replaced with fresh dung every 3, 5, or 7 days; in starvation treatments, beetles were deprived of dung for 10, 15, or 20 consecutive days. Our results show that starvation significantly reduces body dry mass and fat reserves, whereas muscle mass remains largely unaffected. We observed a marked decline in body mass after 15 days of starvation, with no further significant reduction between 15 and 20 days. Although this pattern may indicate a physiological adjustment to prolonged food scarcity, our limited temporal resolution prevents confirming true stabilization. These findings indicate that D. bos prioritizes lipid consumption over muscle catabolism, which may allow beetles to maintain essential functions such as resource acquisition during periods of starvation. Understanding how dung beetles respond to food deprivation is important for predicting the resilience of these insects to environmental changes, particularly in tropical ecosystems where resource availability is unpredictable.