@article {1482,
	title = {Biogeographical groups in a southern African, winter rainfall, dung beetle assemblage (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) - consequences of climatic history and habitat fragmentation},
	journal = {African Journal of Ecology},
	volume = {31},
	number = {4},
	year = {1993},
	note = {1993ArticleEnglish},
	pages = {306-327},
	abstract = {A study was made of the effects of climate and habitat fragmentation on the biogeographical composition of the dung beetle fauna (Scarabaeinae, Coprinae) in the southwestern Cape, winter rainfall region of South Africa. The fauna was studied at eleven sites and 45 species were recorded. Three geographical species groups (1, 2, 3) were defined for 38 of the species using multivariate techniques. The other seven species have dissimilar widespread distributions and are treated as a fourth group (4). Two groups (1, 3) comprising 31 and three species, respectively, are either endemic or largely restricted to the winter and bimodal rainfall regions of southern Africa. They show extreme numerical dominance in indigenous shrubland but are also well-represented in pasture. Groups 1 and 3 comprise primarily day-flying taxa with an overall peak in abundance during the moist spring. These endemic groups are probably associated with the inception of winter rainfall climate during the Pliocene +- 3 million years before present. The other two groups (2, 4) have a distribution extending into the adjacent summer rainfall region. In the southwestern Cape, they are found predominantly in recently-created pastures. They include equal numbers of day and dusk/night-flying species with peaks in abundance mainly during the dry summer. Most species of these two groups are taxonomically distant from endemic taxa. Frequency of Group 2 relative to climate was greatest in the westerly summer rainfall region one whereas that of Group 4 was greatest in the south-easterly bimodal rainfall region. As most members of Groups 2 and 4 show limited penetration into indigenous shrubland, the findings suggest that these summer-active groups dispersed from the summer rainfall into the winter rainfall region via western and eastern coastal corridors in response to the thinning or clearance of the formerly ubiquitous native shrubs.},
	keywords = {Animalia-, Arthropoda-, Biogeography- (Population-Studies), Climatology- (Environmental-Sciences), Coleoptera- (Coleoptera, Coleoptera-: Insecta-, Digestive-System (Ingestion-and-Assimilation), Ecology- (Environmental-Sciences), Invertebrata-, Physiology-},
	author = {Davis, Adrian L. V.}
}
@article {1489,
	title = {Daily weather variation and temporal dynamics in an Afrotropical dung beetle community (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)},
	journal = {Acta Oecologica},
	volume = {16},
	number = {6},
	year = {1995},
	note = {1995 (1996)ArticleEnglish},
	pages = {641-656},
	abstract = {The influence of weather on dung beetle community dynamics was studied in grassland, open woodland and thickets in Gauteng Province, South Africa. To avoid seasonal effects, sampling was restricted to 18 days during November and December. An examination was made both of dung beetle responses to physical variables and of daily changes in their community structure between habitat patches (dung-baited traps). Recruitment of general adults showed a weaker response to physical variables (rainfall, soil hardness, radiant heat, sub-surface soil temperature) than activity of mature adults which was most frequently correlated to rainfall. There was a range in species responses to rainfall from much higher proportional abundance on moist days to somewhat greater abundance on drier days. Such variable responses led to daily changes in the proportional abundance of moist-adapted and dry-tolerant species groups. Daily changes from low to high species richness were also associated with increased rainfall. These changes led to increased diversity and greater functional complexity of the numerically dominant species component. Abundance of most numerically dominant species increased from low to high species richness. Their rank position either increased, decreased or remained similar. It is concluded that during the summer rainy season, incidence of rainfall is an important determinant of temporal dynamics in dung beetle community structure between habitat patches.},
	keywords = {Animalia-, Arthropoda-, Climatology- (Environmental-Sciences), Coleoptera- (Coleoptera-), Coleoptera-: Insecta-, Digestive-System (Ingestion-and-Assimilation), Ecology- (Environmental-Sciences), Invertebrata-, P, Physiology-, Plantae-Unspecified: Plantae-},
	author = {Davis, Adrian L. V.}
}
@article {1499,
	title = {Climatic and biogeographical associations of Kenyan and northern Tanzanian dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)},
	journal = {African Journal of Ecology},
	volume = {31},
	number = {4},
	year = {1993},
	note = {1993ArticleEnglish},
	pages = {290-305},
	abstract = {The equatorial East African highlands were uplifted in the Pliocene, and together with the associated arid lowlands, they delimit several endemic climatic regions. They also form the eastern and northern limits, respectively, of climate types extending westwards across Central and West Africa and southwards into Southern Africa. This climatic convergence made East Africa an ideal area to survey for dung beetles (Scarabaeinae, Copinae) useful as control agents of dung-breeding flies in Australia where a similar range fox climatic regions occurs. Similarities in climatic range between the 104 species showing the broadest frequency distributions were determined using cluster analysis and depicted on a dendrogram. Three groups were defined at the 25\% level of similarity. One group comprised a single montane species endemic to East Africa. A second group (41 spp.) was numerically dominated by East Africa endemics and associated with endemic East African lowland and Southern African climate types. The third group (62 spp.) was primarily associated with upland climate types. Three upland subgroups, defined at the 43\% level of similarity, were dominated by East African endemics and were associated both with endemic East African highland and more broad-based climate types. A fourth subgroup was dominated by climate generalists showing widespread tropical and temperate biogeographical associations. Overall, the most common distribution patterns were East African endemism, range restricted to East and Southern Africa, and pan-African distribution. On the criterion of widespread distribution, about a third of the East African fauna was especially suitable for introduction into Austrailian for fly control.},
	keywords = {Biogeography- (Population-Studies), Climatology- (Environmental-Sciences), Digestive-System (Ingestion-and-Assimilation), Ecology- (Environmental-Sciences), Economic-Entomology, Pest-Assessment-Control-and-Management, Physiology-, Systematics-and-Taxonomy},
	author = {Davis, Adrian L. V. and Dewhurst, Charles F.}
}
@article {1854,
	title = {Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) active in patchy forest and pasture habitats in Santa Cruz Province, Bolivia, during spring},
	journal = {Folia Entomologica Mexicana},
	volume = {84},
	year = {1992},
	note = {1992ArticleEnglish},
	pages = {45-54},
	abstract = {The abundance, habitat preferences and flight periods of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in spring was obtained by using cattle dung baited pitfall traps at 4 sites in patchy forest and pasture habitats in Santa Cruz Province, Bolivia. Nine species were trapped in the forest habitat and 4 in the pasture habitat. One species, Onthophagus ptox was trapped in forest and pasture habitats, the other species were stenotopic, found only in forest or only in pasture. Twice as many beetles were attracted to the forest traps but their mean dry weight (biomass/beetle) was 3 times less than the mean dry weight of pasture species. The most important beetles (in terms of biomass) in the forest, Eurysternus caribeus and Ontherus appendiculatus were similar in size and had the same flight periods but their dung utilization methods were different. The most important beetles in the pasture habitat had different flight activities, Gromphas aeruginosa flying during the day and Ontherus sulcator during the night. When forest is cleared, stenotopic forest dung beetles will disappear resulting in reduced species richness. The effect of reduced dung beetle activity in patchy forest could impact on soil structure fertility and water retention making it difficult for reestablishment of the forest.},
	keywords = {Animalia-, Arthropoda-, Behavior-, Climatology- (Environmental-Sciences), Coleoptera-: Insecta-, Digestive-System (Ingestion-and-Assimilation), Ecology- (Environmental-Sciences), Eurysternus-caribaeus (C, Forestry-, Invertebrata-, Metabolism-, Physiology-},
	author = {Kirk, A. A.}
}
@article {2025,
	title = {Natural Manuring and Soil Conditioning by Dung Beetles},
	journal = {Tropical Ecology},
	volume = {34},
	number = {2},
	year = {1993},
	note = {1993ArticleEnglish},
	pages = {150-159},
	abstract = {To assess the role of dung beetles in conditioning and revitalizing the soil, field and laboratory studies were conducted on three species: Onitis philemon F., O. virens Lansb. and Onthophagus catta (F.). In addition to dung burial and soil excavation, the depth and diameter of their burrows, the nitrogen deposited and the work performed per unit area were also recorded. Dung incorporated per burrow was maximum by O. virens (43.8 +- 6.1 g), followed by O. philemon (21.2 +- 0.9 g) and O. catta (1.6 +- 0.2 g). However, the total work done in an area depended on their population density. Accordingly, the amount of dung deposited per hectare was largest by O. philemon (10.6 kg), followed by O. virens (6.6 kg) and O. catta (1.4 kg).},
	keywords = {Animalia-, Arthropoda-, Coleoptera-: Insecta-, Digestive-System (Ingestion-and-Assimilation), Ecology- (Environmental-Sciences), Invertebrata-, Nutrition-, Onitis-philemon (Coleoptera-), Onitis-virens (Coleoptera-), Onthophagus-, Physiology-, Soil-Science},
	author = {Mittal, I. C.}
}
@article {2090,
	title = {Habitat specificity in African dung beetles: The effect of soil type on dung burial by two species of ball-rolling dung beetles (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae)},
	journal = {Tropical Zoology},
	volume = {6},
	number = {2},
	year = {1993},
	note = {1993ArticleEnglish},
	pages = {243-251},
	abstract = {The dung burial ability of two congeneric ball-rolling dung beetles, Allogymnopleurus thalassinus Klug 1855 and Allogymnopleurus consocius Peringuey 1900 was investigated in field experiments in three different textural classes of sod at contrasting moisture levels in order to seek an explanation for their strong associations with particular soil types in the field. The success and depth of burial of dung balls was measured and was strongly associated with sod hardness. Both species were unable to bury dung in soil with a hardness greater than 2 kg/cm-2. Beetles were able to utilize both sand and clay sods for dung burial sites provided the soil was soft. Hard-setting sandy clay soils exceeded the hardness threshold except during brief periods following rain but the deep sand and self-mulching clay soils did not exceed this threshold even when dry. The restriction of each species to soft soils of a particular texture is discussed.},
	keywords = {Allogymnopleurus-consocius (Coleoptera-), Allogymnopleurus-thalassinus (C, Animalia-, Arthropoda-, Behavior-, Coleoptera-: Insecta-, Digestive-System (Ingestion-and-Assimilation), Ecology- (Environmental-Sciences), Invertebrata-, Physiology-, Soil-Science},
	author = {Osberg, D. C. and Doube, B. M. and Hanrahan, S. A.}
}
@article {2097,
	title = {Testing for seasonal displacement in a dung beetle guild},
	journal = {Ecography},
	volume = {18},
	number = {2},
	year = {1995},
	note = {1995ArticleEnglish},
	pages = {173-177},
	abstract = {The temporal overlap between seasonal distribution of adults of 14 congeneric dung beetle species (Aphodius spp.) was determined during one year, based on 11122 captures. The mean seasonal distribution of adults (mean of the sampling dates weighted by the abundance value) was analyzed to elucidate deviations from randomness. In addition, the effect of the shape of seasonal distribution of adults was investigated. In both analyses randomization methods were used. A clear trend exists maximizing the temporal displacement between middle points of chronologically consecutive species: newly emerging species appear every 26 +- 16 days. This trend minimizes the number of species pairs with no or very little temporal overlap. In contrast, the mean temporal overlap of the whole guild seems unaffected, with some species pairs showing a large temporal overlap. Whether the observed pattern can be attributed to interspecific competition must be addressed experimentally.},
	keywords = {anima, Animalia-, Aphodius-sp. (Coleoptera-), Arthropoda-, Climatology- (Environmental-Sciences), Coleoptera-: Insecta-, Development-, Digestive-System (Ingestion-and-Assimilation), Ecology- (Environmental-Sciences), Invertebrata-, Nutrition-, Physiology-},
	author = {Palmer, Miquel}
}
