@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 {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.}
}
