Small Dung Beetles As Biological Control Agents: Laboratory Studies of Beetle Action on Trichostrongylid Eggs in Sheep and Cattle Feces1
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OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME 43, NUMBER 2, JULY 1976 171 Comm. Fish and Fisheries for 1887, Wash- Regan, J. D. 1963. A cestode plerocercoid ington, D.C. 15: 718-897. from the crowned conch. Q. T- Fla. Acad. Sci. — -. 1908. Helminth fauna of the Dry 26: 184-187. Tortugas. I. Cestodes. Carneg. Inst. Wash., Schmidt, G. D. 1969. Dioecotaenia cancellata Publ. 102: 157-190. (Linton, 1890) gen. et comb, n., a dioecious Pintner, T. 1889. Neue Unterschungen ueber cestode (Tetraphyllidea) from the cow-nosed den Bau des Bandwurmkorpers. I. Zur ray, Rhinoptera bonasus (Mitchell), in Kenntnis der Gattung Echinobothrium. Arb. Chesapeake Bay, with the proposal of a new Zool. Inst. Univ. Wien 8: 371-420. family, Dioecotaeniidae. T- Parasit. 55: 271- Read, C. P., J. E. Simmons, Jr., J. W. Campbell, 275. 1970. How to know the tapeworms. and A. H. Rothman. 1960. Permeation Brown Co. Publishers. Dubuque, Iowa. 266 p. and membrane transport in parasitism: studies Wardle, R. A., and J. A. McLeod. 1952. The on a tapeworm-elasmobranch symbiosis. Biol. /oology of tapeworms. Univ. Minn. Press, Bull. 199: 120-133. Minneapolis, Minn. 780 p. Rces, F. G. 1961. Echinobothrium acanthino- Yamaguti, S. 1959. Systema helminthum. Vol. phyllum, n. sp. from the spiral valve of Raja II. The cestodes of vertebrates. Interscience, montagui Fowler. Parasitol. 51: 407-416. New York. 860 p. Small Dung Beetles as Biological Control Agents: Laboratory Studies of Beetle Action on Trichostrongylid Eggs in Sheep and Cattle Feces1 R. C. BERGSTROM-, L. R. M/VKi2 AND B. A. WERNERS ABSTRACT: Four species of the genus Aphodius and Canthon practicola beetles were placed on sheep and cattle feces containing trichostrongylid eggs. Ten to 20 beetles were allowed to feed 1-5 days on 5-100 g of feces containing 12-3,000 trichostrongylid eggs per g. Numbers of trichostrongylid eggs in cultures with beetles decreased 24-90% more than in those without beetles within five days. Researchers of Coleoptera have shown that tera in South Dakota; in the same state Kessler coprophagous, scarabaeoid beetles are strongly and Balsbaugh (1972) noted a regular suc- attracted to fresh feces of various animals cession of adult Coleoptera in bovine manure (Fincher et al., 1970). Fincber et al. (1971) during the growing season. Sanders and studied flight activities of several species of Dobson (1966) reported on insects associated beetles during various hours of the day and with bovine manure in Indiana. More recently, found a consistent periodicity of activity which Waterhouse (1974) reported on the biological was affected by temperature change. control of dung by beetles and Fincher (1973) Geographically nearer the present study are showed dung burying beetles could serve as the observations of McDaniel and Balsbaugh biological control agents of Ostertagia oster- (1968) who showed that bovine manure is tagia, a trichostrongylid nematode parasite of used as an overwintering medium for Coleop- cattle. Dung beetle mouth parts are efficient in macerating food and could be effective in 1 Published with the approval of the Director, Dr. Neal breaking nematode eggs in feces (Miller, Hilston, University of Wyoming Agriculture Experiment Station as Journal Article 796. 1961). 2 Division of Microbiology and Veterinary Medicine, The objective of the present study was to University of Wyoming. a Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, Laramie 82070. determine whether or not relatively small Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington 172 PROCEEDINGS OF THE HELMINTHOLOGICAL SOCIETY Table 1. Small dung beetles acting on Trichostrongylus colubriformis eggs in sheep feces. No. eggs recovered % decrease in Trial Hours of Fecal subsample Initial no. no beetles with beetles egg no. due to no. beetle action size (g) eggs/g control principal beetle action 1 48 10 3000 2200 1500 32 2 28 10 3000 2200 1400 36 3 40 10 3000 2400 600 75 4 30 10 3000 2100 900 57 5 22 10 3000 2100 1300 38 6 40 10 3000 2100 200 90 7 49 6 3000 1300 600 54 8 24 5 2500 1700 900 47 9 25 10 2200 2200 1200 45 10 29 5 1700 1400 600 57 11 23 4 3000 2900 1200 59 Ave. 32.5 8 2764 2055 945 54 beetles such as the Aphodius spp. and Canthon samples were withdrawn from the control and practicola might affect trichostrongylid egg principal samples and checked by use of the numbers in feces of sheep and cattle. McMaster technique for the number of T. colubriformis eggs. Per cent decreases in num- Materials and Methods bers of eggs in the principal samples were Ovine fecal material used in the trials was recorded. Attempts were made to find tricho- collected with diapers on lambs which had strongylid eggs in the intestinal tract and/or on been orally infected via drench with third-stage the external surfaces of the beetles. larvae of Trichostrongylus colubriformis (Giles, Fecal samples containing the mixed tricho- 1892). About one month after exposure, T. strongylid ova were gathered from various, colubriformis egg numbers in ovine feces naturally infected sheep and cattle in Wyoming. ranged from about 1,700-3,000 eggs per gram Trichostrongylid (Nematodirus spp., Ostertagia (e.p.g.) with the higher number being found spp., and Marshallagia marshalli., Orloff, 1933) in many of the samples used in these trials. egg numbers in such fecal samples were much Feces taken from the diapers were placed in lower (12-184 e.p.g.) than in those of the plastic sacks and weighed. Feces not used im- artificially infected lambs. Eggs were con- mediately were stored 1-3 weeks at 0-4 C. centrated by a centrifugation-flotation tech- From the large fecal samples, equal 5-30 g nique using a sucrose solution (specific gravity subsamples were used as control (no beetles) 1.18) in a modified Lane technique. Sub- and principal (with beetles) samples for each sample size in the latter trials was larger trial. Eleven trials were carried out at labo- (100 g). ratory temperatures of ±20 C. All trials were Data were analyzed by use of Student's t test conducted with feces on filter paper over moist, in order to detect possible significant differ- sterile soil in capped polyethylene jars with ences in egg numbers between control and 40 1 mm air holes. principal samples after beetle exposure. Sta- Four to 10 Aphodius vittatus Say, 6—10 A. tistical analyses were made with a Sigma 7 coloradensis Horn and 2-4 A. granarius (L.) (Xerox Data Systems) computer. were placed on or near feces containing T. colubriformis eggs whereas 1-4 Canthon Results practicola LeConte, 3-5 A. coloradensis and Data presented in Table 1 show the per cent 3-5 A. fimetarius (L.) were used in 6 trials decrease in the numbers of Trichostrongylus with mixed species of trichostrongylid eggs. colubriformis eggs in sheep feces when The beetles were allowed to act on the feces Aphodius beetles were allowed to feed on rela- and trichostrongylid eggs for 22-49 hrs. After tively small amounts of feces (4-10 g) for the period of exposure, smaller (4-10 g) sub- relatively brief periods of time (1—2 days). Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME 43, NUMBER 2, JULY 1976 173 Table 2. Small dung beetles acting on various trichostrongylid eggs* in cattle and sheep feces. No. eggs recovered % decrease in Trial Hours of Fecal subsample Initial no. no beetles with beetles egg no. due to no. beetle action size (g) eggs/g control principal beetle action 1 48 100 16 16 8 50 2 48 100 184 156 118 24 3 48 100 36 30 18 50 4 48 100 40 28 12 57 5 120 100 18 18 10 44 6 120 100 12 12 6 50 Ave. 72 100 51 •11 29 46 * Eggs of Ncmatodinis sp., Osterlagia sp., and Marshallagia marshalli. Recovery of eggs in control samples was With longer periods of interaction (trials 5 good (mean = 74%) and decrease in egg and 6, Table 2), decreases in numbers of numbers due to beetle action was moderate to trichostrongylid eggs due to beetle action was large, (32-90 with a mean of 54%). The relatively low as compared to the shorter term effect of the beetle action was significant at trials. In trials 5 and 6, beetles were sluggish the 1% level. and only 1 or 2 beetles had penetrated the Data in Table 2 indicate the results of 6 fecal mass within the 5 day exposure. trials where the research procedures were When the numbers of beetles dropped to similar to those of the Aphodius spp.-T. 1-3, control and principal fecal samples con- colubriformis trials but with mixed tricho- tained about the same number of eggs post- strongylid (Nematodims sp., Ostertagia sp. beetle exposure. and Marshallagia marshatti), nematode eggs in More research is needed as to the effect of sheep and cattle feces. monospecific beetle populations in interaction No trichostrongylid eggs were found in the with parasite eggs in feces. intestinal tracts or on the external parts of the beetles after they had been exposed to Acknowledgments the feces. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Discussion assistance of Dr. Rabinder Kumar who iden- Much of the previous research with coproph- tified the beetles and the help of Drs. Kingston agous beetles, pertinent to this discussion, and Jolley who made many suggestions for has been done with a larger, burying beetles improvement of the manuscript. (e.g., Phanaeus spp.) and results show that Literature Cited pasture contamination is decreased (Water- house, 1974) or that livestock infection by Fincher, G. T. 1973. Dung beetles as biological trichostrongylid larvae on vegetation is de- control agents for gastrointestinal parasites of livestock.