Dung beetles (Scarabaeidae. Scarabaeinae, Aphodiinae) of Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

Abstract

Dung Beetles (Scarabaeinae, Scarabaeidae) are important participants in binding huge amounts of carbon. In Africa these Beetles have been specializing for millions of years, since there have been no “Ice-ages”. Today, much of Africa’s fertile lands is being “developed” or exploited ether by the local population or foreign investors. As a result, only fragments of the habitats are pristine. Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania is one of the very few places where habitats and wildlife populations are relatively intact, because of strict protection of the reserve by a high number of armed rangers. In the work with this thesis I have looked in to the number of species of dung beetles present in dung from different species of plant-consuming large mammals present in the reserve. Moreover I have compared the different species of dung beetles utilizing the dung in different habitats in Selous Game Reserve. The finding is an astonishing number of species, 105 in all (including 3 species of Aphodiinae, Scarabaeidae). The species were grouped as morphospecies based on their external morphology. Probably many of the species have not yet been described by science. The species of dung beetles were found to be highly specialized on dung of different mammal dung producers. Also, there was very little overlap between habitat types by the different species of dung beetles. This emphasizes the importance of protection of both Mammal species and habitats for preserving biodiversity of dung beetles.