Species composition, distribution patterns and endemism are outlined for the dung beetles in the ecoregions of the western slopes of the moist South Western Ghats, South India. Among the 142 dung beetle species known, 35 are endemic to the Western Ghats; 29 are endemic to the moist South Western Ghats; 25 are regionally endemic to the South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion; and one ...

This paper focuses on biological relationships between mammalian species richness and the community structure of dung beetles in cool-temperate forests in the northernmost part of mainland Japan. The composition of beetle assemblages was evaluated at 3 sites in undisturbed beech forests with different mammalian fauna. In spring and summer 2009, beetles were collected at each site using pitfall ...

Avermectins and milbemycins are commonly used in agro-ecosystems for the control of parasites in domestic livestock. As integral members of agro-ecosystems with importance in maintaining pasture health through dung burial behaviour, dung beetles are an excellent nontarget bio-indicator taxon for examining potential detrimental effects of pesticide application. The current review focuses on the ...

You may have seen the film Microcosmos, produced in 1996 by the French biologists Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perrenou. It does not star humans, but much smaller creatures, mostly insects. The filmmakers’ magnifying camera transposes the viewer into the world of these organisms. For me, Microcosmos is not an ordinary naturalist documentary; it is an exercise in metaphysics. One sequence in the f...

Insects feeding on plant sap, blood, and other nutritionally incomplete diets are typically associated with mutualistic bacteria that supplement missing nutrients. Herbivorous mammal dung contains more than 86% cellulose and lacks amino acids essential for insect development and reproduction. Yet one of the most ecologically necessary and evolutionarily successful groups of beetles, the dung be...

Reversing anthropogenic impacts on habitat structure is frequently successful through restoration, but the mechanisms linking habitat change, community reassembly and recovery of ecosystem functioning remain unknown. We test for the influence of edge effects and matrix habitat restoration on the reassembly of dung beetle communities and consequent recovery of dung removal rates across tropical ...

To escape competition at the dung pile, a ball-rolling dung beetle forms a piece of dung into a ball and rolls it away. To ensure their efficient escape from the dung pile, beetles rely on a 'celestial compass' to move along a straight path. Here, we analyzed the reliability of different skylight cues for this compass and found that dung beetles rely not only on the sun but also on the skylight...

To understand the dynamics of spatially structured populations, we need to know the level of movements at different spatial scales. This paper reports on Aphodius dung beetle movements at two scales: movements between dung pats within pastures, and movements between pastures. First, I test an assumption common to many recent models of spatially structured populations – that the probability of a...