This dung beetle is native of southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, and it was venerated in ancient Egypt.

Scarabaeus sacer was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, the starting point of zoological nomenclature.

It has been recorded from Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France (including Corsica), Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Jordan, India (Kashmir), Libya, Mauritania, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Pakistan, Romania, Portugal, Russia (southernmost), Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Turkistan and Ukraine.

[4][5][6] In Europe, much of the distribution of S. sacer is in coastal regions near the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, where it often inhabits dunes and marshes.

The mid- and hind-legs of Scarabaeus have normal, well-developed 5-segmented tarsi, but the front legs are specialised for excavation and for forming balls of dung.

[15] Scarabaeus sacer was the species which first piqued the interest of William Sharp Macleay and drew him into a career in entomology.