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The origin of the dung-feeding habits in dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) is debatable. According to traditional views, evolution and their feeding are largely attributed mammal dung. In this paper, we challenge view provide evidence that many beetle communities actually attracted reptiles birds (= Sauropsida). turn, indicates sauropsid may have played a crucial evolutionary role was pre...

By causing extinctions and altering community structure, anthropogenic disturbances can disrupt processes that maintain ecosystem integrity. However, the relationship between community structure and ecosystem functioning in natural systems is poorly understood. Here we show that habitat loss appeared to disrupt ecosystem functioning by affecting extinction order, species richness and abundance....

Recent research has focused on the different types of compass cues available to ball-rolling beetles for orientation, but little is known about the relative precision of each of these cues and how they interact. In this study, we find that the absolute orientation error of the celestial compass of the day-active dung beetle Scarabaeus lamarcki doubles from 16° at solar elevations below 60° to a...

Endothermy in insects is normally associated with flight but has been observed during strictly terrestrial activity in beetles (Bartholomew & Casey 1977a, b). A study by Bartholomew & Heinrich (1978) in Kenya showed that dung beetles are conspicuously endothermic during flight, ball making and ball rolling, and sometimes while walking. Endothermy during terrestrial activity is probably advantag...

1. Plant – animal interactions, and in particular the processes of seed predation and dispersal, are crucial for tree regeneration and forest dynamics. A novel and striking case of interaction between a dung beetle ( Thorectes lusitanicus ) and two Quercus species ( Q. suber and Q. canariensis ) in forests of southern Spain is presented here. 2. During the autumn, T. lusitanicus beetles (endemi...

In 2021, two specimens of Atheta knabli, a rare beetle species known mostly from subalpine/alpine regions in Europe, were discovered with dung-baited traps lowland habitat Białowieża Forest, NE Poland. To our knowledge, this is the first record for Poland and confirmed habitat.