Ecological investigations on certain dung-inhabiting coleoptera, with special reference to the beetles of the genus aphodius (illiger)

This work was undertaken on an area of moorland in the northern Pennines, between 1954 and 1956. Here 16 species of dung-inhabiting beetles of the genus Aphodlus were found. The adult taxonomy of two closely related species, A. prodromus and A. sphacelatus, was examined in detail and the larval stages of three previously unknown species were identified. The biology of several species was studied, enabling the author to discover some of the factors which separated them ecologically. Attempts were made to assess the place of Aphodlus beetles in the utilisation of sheep dung, and with this end in view the distribution, form and condition of dung on several types of vegetation wore examined. Observations were also made on dung-inhabiting lumbricid worms and dipterous flies which were the other organisms of importance in the utilisation of dung. The worms were most effective in removing dung, but their activities varied on the different types of vegetation. Dipterous larvae were of second importance, and were not appreciably affected by vegetation type. Averaged over the whole year, only one-fifth of the sheep droppings were infested by Aphodius. The beetle infestation was not affected by vegetation type.