The South American endemic dung beetle genus Ennearabdus Lansberge is revised. Description, diagnosis and illustrations are presented for the only known species of the genus, E. lobocephalus (Harold). A lectotype is designated for Onthophagus lobocephalus Harold, the type species of Ennearabdus. The biology, biogeography, conservation status, and distribution based on the predictive distributio...

The increased global demand for tropical timber has driven vast expanses of tropical forests to be selectively logged worldwide. While logging impacts on wildlife are predicted to change species distribution and abundance, the underlying physiological responses are poorly understood. Although there is a growing consensus that selective logging impacts on natural populations start with individua...

Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Scarabaeinae) activity is influenced by rainfall seasonality. We hypothesized that rainfall might also play a major role in regulating the community structure of this group. In this study, we describe seasonal changes in the richness, composition, and structure of the Scarabaeinae community in a Brazilian tropical dry forest. A fragment of arboreal Caatin...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate how dung beetle communities respond to both environment and rainfall in the Caatinga, a semi-arid ecosystem in northeastern Brazil. The communities were sampled monthly from May 2006 to April 2007 using pitfall traps baited with human feces in two environments denominated "land use area" and "undisturbed area." Abundance and species richness were com...

The polarisation pattern of skylight offers many arthropods a reference for visual compass orientation. The dung beetle Scarabaeus zambesianus starts foraging at around sunset. After locating a source of fresh droppings, it forms a ball of dung and rolls it off at high speed to escape competition at and around the dung pile. Using behavioural experiments in the field and in the laboratory, we s...

The study presents taxonomic account of 52 species of dung beetles belonging to 22 genera, 12 tribes, 04 subtribes, 05 subfamilies and 03 families viz. Scarabaeidae, Geotrupidae and Hybosoridae from Chhattisgarh. Interactive identification keys to the subfamilies, tribes, genera and species were prepared by studying thoroughly the morphological characters of all the dung beetles specimens colle...

Descriptions are provided for three new shade-associated species in the dung beetle genus, Sisyphus Latreille, 1807: Sisyphus umbraphilus sp. nov., Sisyphus oralensis sp. nov., and Sisyphus neobornemisszanus sp. nov. All three species are illustrated by photographs of habitus, diagnostic features, and male aedeagi. A map is provided showing their geographical distributions.

Biodiversity drives ecological functioning, ultimately providing ecosystem services. Ecosystem processes are favored by greater functional diversity, particularly when groups of functionally different species interact synergistically. Many such functions performed insects, among which dung beetles stand out for their important role in decomposition. However, anthropogenic disturbances negativel...

Community structure is driven by mechanisms linked to environmental, spatial and temporal processes, which have been successfully addressed using metacommunity framework. The relative importance of processes shaping community structure can be identified using several different approaches. Two approaches that are increasingly being used are functional diversity and community deconstruction. Func...