The effects of dung beetle activity on the numbers of parasitic gastrointestinal helminth larvae recovered from pasture samples

1973 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 161 ◽  
Author(s):  
RP Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Parasitic Nematode ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Percentage Reduction ◽  
Faecal Material ◽  
Gastrointestinal Helminth ◽  
Nematode Eggs ◽  
Cattle Faeces ◽  
Onthophagus Gazella

Studies have been made of the effect of the dung beetle, Onthophagus gazella, on the release of strongyle larvae from cattle faeces onto pasture. A series of faecal pats containing parasitic nematode eggs was placed on pasture, and beetles were added to some pats to give three levels of beetle activity, viz. 100 g, 200-250 g, and 500 g of faeces per pair of beetles. These pats were duplicated on irrigated and non-irrigated pasture. In both cases the numbers of strongyle larvae migrating from pats attacked by dung beetles were significantly less than those migrating from control pats containing no dung beetles. Compared with larval recoveries from control pats, the percentage reduction in numbers of larvae migrating from pats on irrigated pasture was 50% for pats of 100 g faeces per pair of beetles, 48 % for pats of 200-250 g faeces per pair, and 84% for pats of 500 g of faeces per pair. The respective figures for pats on nonirrigated pasture were 76, 86, and 93 % reduction in larval numbers. The results indicated that strongyle larvae migrated from faecal material buried by dung beetles, provided soil moisture was adequate. More larvae were recovered from the pasture surrounding irrigated faecal pats attacked by beetles than from the non-irrigated pats. During warm dry weather, surface faecal debris remaining after beetlc attack appeared to be helminthologically sterile.

The effect of the dung beetle, Onthophagus gazella, on the ecology of the infective larvae of gastrointestinal nematodes of cattle

1976 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 567 ◽  
Author(s):  
RP Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Variation ◽  
External Environment ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Gastrointestinal Nematodes ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Faecal Material ◽  
Infective Larvae ◽  
Nematode Larvae ◽  
Extremes Of Temperature ◽  
Onthophagus Gazella

The ecology of nematode larvae infective for cattle was studied in the vicinity of standardized dung pats experimentally exposed lo the dung beetle, Onthophagus gazella. In moist climatic conditions two, 10 and 30 pairs of O . Gazella reduced the numbers of larvae on grass surrounding dung pats by 40, 74 and 66% respectively, compared with control pats not exposed to beetles. After 84 days, many larvae remained in control pats and pats attacked by two pairs of beetles, but few were found in other pat types. Infective larvae survived for at least 84 days in soil and buried faecal material, and larval migration through soil occurred. The daily temperature variation within dung beetle burrows was considerably less than that of the external environment. This insulation against extremes of temperature probably contributed to the longevity of buried larvae.

scholarly journals Wood Pastures: A Transitional Habitat between Forests and Pastures for Dung Beetle Assemblages

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
László Somay ◽  
Viktor Szigeti ◽  
Gergely Boros ◽  
Réka Ádám ◽  
András Báldi
Keyword(s):  
Functional Group ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Assemblage Composition ◽  
Beetle Assemblages

Wood pastures are home to a variety of species, including the dung beetle. Dung beetles are an important functional group in decomposition. Specifically, in terms of livestock manure, they not only contribute to nutrient cycling but are key players in supporting human and animal health. Dung beetles, however, are declining in population, and urgent recommendations are needed to reverse this trend. Recommendations need to be based on solid evidence and specific habitats. Herein, we aimed to investigate the role of an intermediate habitat type between forests and pastures. Wood pastures are key areas for dung beetle conservation. For this reason, we compared dung beetle assemblages among forests, wood pastures, and grasslands. We complemented this with studies on the effects of dung type and season at three Hungarian locations. Pitfall traps baited with cattle, sheep, or horse dung were used in forests, wood pastures, and pasture habitats in spring, summer, and autumn. Dung beetle assemblages of wood pastures showed transient characteristics between forests and pastures regarding their abundance, species richness, Shannon diversity, assemblage composition, and indicator species. We identified a strong effect of season and a weak of dung type. Assemblage composition proved to be the most sensitive measure of differences among habitats. The conservation of dung beetles, and the decomposition services they provide, need continuous livestock grazing to provide fresh dung, as well as the maintenance of wood pastures where dung beetle assemblages typical of forests and pastures can both survive.

scholarly journals A review and phylogeny of Scarabaeine dung beetle fossils (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), with the description of twoCanthochilumspecies from Dominican amber

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Tarasov ◽  
Fernando Z. Vaz-de-Mello ◽  
Frank-Thorsten Krell ◽  
Dimitar Dimitrov
Keyword(s):  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Late Oligocene ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Dominican Amber ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Phylogenetic Hypotheses

Despite the increasing rate of systematic research on scarabaeine dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), their fossil record has remained largely unrevised. In this paper, we review all 33 named scarabaeine fossils and describe two new species from Dominican amber (Canthochilum allenisp.n.,Canthochilum philipsivieorumsp.n.). We provide a catalogue of all fossil Scarabaeinae and evaluate their assignment to this subfamily, based primarily on the original descriptions but also, where possible, by examining the type specimens. We suggest that only 21 fossil taxa can be reliably assigned to the Scarabaeinae, while the remaining 14 should be treated as doubtful Scarabaeinae. The doubtful scarabaeines include the two oldest dung beetle fossils known from the Cretaceous and we suggest excluding them from any assessments of the minimum age of scarabaeine dung beetles. The earliest reliably described scarabaeine fossil appears to beLobateuchus parisii, known from Oise amber (France), which shifts the minimum age of the Scarabaeinae to the Eocene (53 Ma). We scored the best-preserved fossils, namelyLobateuchusand the twoCanthochilumspecies described herein, into the character matrix used in a recent morphology-based study of dung beetles, and then inferred their phylogenetic relationships with Bayesian and parsimony methods. All analyses yielded consistent phylogenies where the two fossilCanthochilumare placed in a clade with the extant species ofCanthochilum, andLobateuchusis recovered in a clade with the extant generaAteuchusandAphengium. Additionally, we evaluated the distribution of dung beetle fossils in the light of current global dung beetle phylogenetic hypotheses, geological time and biogeography. The presence of only extant genera in the late Oligocene and all later records suggests that the main present-day dung beetle lineages had already been established by the late Oligocene–mid Miocene.

Mites and internal parasites associated with the common dung beetle Geotrupes (Anoplotrupes) stercorosus (Hartmann in Scriba, 1791) in Poland

2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Sulgostowska ◽  
Krzysztof Solarz ◽  
Grażyna Madej ◽  
Krzysztof Klimaszewski
Keyword(s):  
Intestinal Parasites ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Soil Characteristics ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Internal Parasites ◽  
Eastern Border ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Rich ◽  
June July

AbstractCommon dung beetles collected in the "Sobieski Forest" (eastern border of Warsaw suburbs) were examined for the occurrence and prevalence of infections or infestations with intestinal parasites and phoretic mites in relation to soil characteristics and quality of the forest habitat. Endoparasitic fauna was represented by gregarines Didymophyes paradoxa, microsporidians Plistophora geotrupina and cysticerkoids of 2 tapeworms - Ditestolepis diaphana and Staphylocystis furcate. Prevalence of these infections was higher for beetles collected from rich habitats. Acarofauna was represented by hypopodes of Sancassania geotruporum (Astigmatina, Acaridae) and the following taxa of mesostigmatic mites: Alliphis halleri, Macrocheles glaber, Parasitus coleoptratorum and unidentified juvenile Laelapidae representative. Mites were most abundant in June, July and September. They were only slightly more numerously found on dung beetles from the rich habitats. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling, MDS (2D stress = 0.13) revealed significant similarities in the distribution of mite taxa between poor and rich sites and among the investigated months (June, July and September).

Evaluation of the attraction, lethal and sublethal effects of the faeces of ivermectin‐treated cattle on the dung beetle Digit onthophagus gazella (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-374
Author(s):  
Roger I Rodríguez‐Vivas ◽  
Gertrudis S Basto‐Estrella ◽  
Enrique Reyes‐Novelo ◽  
Andreyna Arisbe Arceo‐Moran ◽  
William R Arcila‐Fuentes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sublethal Effects ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Onthophagus Gazella

scholarly journals The Rolling of Food by Dung Beetles Affects the Oviposition of Competing Flies

Insects ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Manuel Ix-Balam ◽  
Maria A. Oliveira ◽  
Júlio Louzada ◽  
Jeremy McNeil ◽  
Eraldo Lima
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Interspecific Competition ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Blow Fly ◽  
Chemical Substances ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Oviposition Sites

Flies are the main competitors of dung beetles for oviposition sites and rolling dung beetles relocate their food to reduce interspecific competition. Furthermore, dung beetles deposit chemical substances on the food ball that may repel fly larvae and certain predators. In the present study, using Deltochilum furcatum, a dung beetle that does not exhibit parental care and the blow-fly, Lucilia cuprina, we tested the hypothesis that pygidial secretions deposited on the food ball could also make it less attractive as an oviposition site for flies. Food balls rolled by either D. furcatum males or females received significantly fewer eggs that balls that had not been rolled by beetles. Also, flies laid significantly fewer eggs on food balls treated with secretions collected from male pygidial glands. Reduced fly oviposition may be a direct effect of compounds the beetles deposited, acting as an allomone, and/or an indirect negative effect on the microbial community that stimulates fly oviposition. A model of the reproductive biology of this species is proposed.

Losses from cattle faeces during chemical analysis

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (71) ◽  
pp. 716 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Falvey ◽  
A Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Nitrogen Loss ◽  
Routine Method ◽  
Drying Time ◽  
Sample Digestion ◽  
Faecal Material ◽  
Kjeldahl Method ◽  
Cattle Faeces ◽  
Nitrogen Contents

The effects of drying temperature and method of sample digestion on the determination of nitrogen and dry matter in the faeces of cattle grazing pastures of two different nitrogen contents were examined. Nitrogen loss varied from 8 to 20 per cent depending on the temperatures and associated length of drying time. The variation in the loss between samples from animals grazing the two pastures was small, tending to be higher for the samples taken from animals grazing a higher nitrogen pasture. Sample digestion by the H2SO4-H2O2 method was found to be as satisfactory as the micro-Kjeldahl method. Drying at 100�C for 24 hours gave the least loss of nitrogen. This procedure in conjunction with the H2SO4-H2O2 , digestion is proposed as a routine method for determination of nitrogen in faecal material.

Short-term post-dispersal fate of seeds defecated by two small primate species (Saguinus mystaxandSaguinus fuscicollis) in the Amazonian forest of Peru

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Culot ◽  
Marie-Claude Huynen ◽  
Paul Gérard ◽  
Eckhard W. Heymann
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Seed Fate ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Amazonian Forest ◽  
Saguinus Fuscicollis ◽  
High Quality Seed ◽  
Secondary Seed Dispersal

Abstract:Post-dispersal fate of seeds dispersed by large primates is well studied but little is known about this process in small frugivores like tamarins. This study in the Amazonian forest of Peru aimed at investigating if characteristics related to the defecation patterns of tamarins (Saguinus mystaxandSaguinus fuscicollis) affected short-term post-dispersal seed fate, through secondary seed dispersal by dung beetles and removal by seed predators. Data on dung beetle activity were based on direct observations of 49 defecations while seed fate was studied using semi-controlled experiments (N = 458 for secondary dispersal and N = 398 for predation). Tamarins produce small defecations with a low number of seeds. Thirty-five per cent of defecations were visited by an average of 1.5 dung beetles that usually transport the faeces as pellets. Twenty-four per cent of seeds were buried by beetles at a mean depth of 3.5 cm. With increasing quantities of faecal matter, the probability of secondary seed dispersal increased but not the depth of burial. Seed predation pressure was low (17.6%) after 4 d and higher in faeces ofS. mystaxthan in faeces ofS. fuscicollis. Despite their small size, tamarins could be considered as high-quality seed dispersers, with a potential role for forest regeneration.

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