Vol. 24 (1) (March 2021) Environment

Record of dung in Jnanagangotri Campus, Davangere University, Chitradurga.

Sreenivasa G and Hosetti B. B. Department of Studies in Zoology, Davangere University, PG-Center, Chitradurga, Karnataka 577502, India Corresponding author: [email protected]

Insects are the most dominating and diverse organisms on earth. They are found all over and very recognizable individuals from the phylum Arthropoda under the class Insecta. Dung beetles belong to the family and refer to those present at the faecal deposits of (Halffter and Matthews, 1966). These beetles fall into three basic nest building categories: tunnelers (paracoprids), dwellers (endocoprids), and rollers (telecoprids). Each group of these beetles improves the nature of soil by reducing pasture fouling, adding supplements to soil, increasing percolation, introducing organic matter into the soil and reducing non-point sources of organic pollution (Fincher,1992). Therefore dung beetles have been widely used as bio-indicators of ecological change and as model frameworks of biological system (Elizabeth, 2019).

Dung sampling was done on every month (2 days/week) from, June to October 2020 in and around Jnanagangotri campus, Davangere University, GR Halli, Chitradurga located at 14.23°N 76.4°E with an average elevation of 732metres. Standard methods were used for collection of specimens, like pitfall traps and hand picking methods. The specimens were collected and photographed. In this study 7 species of dung beetles belonging to (subfamily) were observed and identified by following the Indian biodiversity port and Bin-Hong Ho, 2018. Earlier studies by Veenakumari and Veeresh (1997) reported 61 species of Scarabaeinae from Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Further Deepak et al., 2014 also reported 24 species from Bangalore University Campus. In our sampling, for the first time we observed an abundant number of dung beetles in the surroundings of the Jnanagangotri campus, Chitradurga. This observation calls for a detailed study and analyses of dung beetles in the area which will contribute to the domain knowledge of dung beetles elsewhere. The details of collected specimens are as follows:

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List of dung beetles collected from PG Center, Davangere University, Chitradurga

Species

Catharsius pithecius

Gymnopleurus miliaris

Liatongus rhadamistus

Onthophagus trituber

Onthophagus cervus

Digitonthophagus gazelle

Onticellus cinctus

A. Liatongus rhadamistus, B. Gymnopleurus miliaris, C. Onthophagus trituber, D. Onthophagus cervus, E. Onticellus cinctus, F . Digitonthophagus gazelle, G. Catharsius pithecius

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References

Bin-Hong Ho, 2018. Two Dung Beetles of the Genus Onthophagus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) in Kinmen Islands: New Distribution Record, Taiwanese Journal of Entomological Studies 3(2): 43-45 (2018).

Deepak PM, Charles R, Shariff M, Jayashankar and SN Karimbumkara,2014. A preliminary survey of Dung beetles in Jnana Bharathi Campus of Bangalore University, Newsletter of the Invertebrate Conservation and Information Network of South Asia (ICINSA) No. 21. 2-3.

Elizabeth H. Raine and Eleanor M, 2019, Slade –mammal associations: methods, research trends and future directions, Proc Biol Sci. 27; 286(1897).

Fincher GT and Wang GT, 1992. Injectable moxidectin for cattle-Effects on 2 species of dung burying beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Southwest. Entomol. 17:303-306.

Halffter G. and Halffter V, 2009. Why and where coprophagous beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) eat seeds, fruits or vegetable detritus. Boletín de la Sociedad ntomologica Aragonesa 45: 1-22.

India biodiversity port (https://indiabiodiversity.org/)

Veenakumari K and GK Veeresh, 1997. Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) fauna of Bangalore, Karnataka. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 94(1): 171–173.

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