TY - JOUR

T1 - Millipede consumption and interaction between food preferences and sex in dung beetle Chalconotus convexus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae)

AU - Nganhane, Isildo de N.

AU - Naskrecki, Piotr

AU - Farooq, Harith

AU - Daniel, Gimo M.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Ecological Society of Australia.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Dung beetles feed mainly on scarce and ephemeral mammalian faeces making them vulnerable to declines of mammal populations. Therefore, studying how diverse groups like the Scarabaeinae subfamily utilize alternative food sources, such as decomposing invertebrates, enhances our understanding of their distribution and resilience in defaunated areas. One poorly studied aspect of the feeding habits of dung beetles is the potential differences between the sexes and their predatory behaviour. We evaluated how the sex (male and female) of individuals of Chalconotus convexus affected individual resource attraction to different bait types. Since C. convexus is known to feed on faeces, carrion and dead millipedes, we also test whether it can predate live individuals of millipedes. We used a combination of two field samplings and one laboratory experiment, using pitfall traps baited with faeces, carrion, millipedes and millipede's defensive compounds. While the preference for millipede was not associated with sex, we found a significant relationship between faeces and carrion, where females of C. convexus are significantly less attracted to faeces when compared to males and also males are significantly less attracted to carrion when compared to females. Furthermore, we also show that while actively consuming dead millipedes, C. convexus is unable to predate on live individuals. Our study illustrates that the versatility of food sources may help to explain the high abundance and wide distribution of C. convexus in Africa.

AB - Dung beetles feed mainly on scarce and ephemeral mammalian faeces making them vulnerable to declines of mammal populations. Therefore, studying how diverse groups like the Scarabaeinae subfamily utilize alternative food sources, such as decomposing invertebrates, enhances our understanding of their distribution and resilience in defaunated areas. One poorly studied aspect of the feeding habits of dung beetles is the potential differences between the sexes and their predatory behaviour. We evaluated how the sex (male and female) of individuals of Chalconotus convexus affected individual resource attraction to different bait types. Since C. convexus is known to feed on faeces, carrion and dead millipedes, we also test whether it can predate live individuals of millipedes. We used a combination of two field samplings and one laboratory experiment, using pitfall traps baited with faeces, carrion, millipedes and millipede's defensive compounds. While the preference for millipede was not associated with sex, we found a significant relationship between faeces and carrion, where females of C. convexus are significantly less attracted to faeces when compared to males and also males are significantly less attracted to carrion when compared to females. Furthermore, we also show that while actively consuming dead millipedes, C. convexus is unable to predate on live individuals. Our study illustrates that the versatility of food sources may help to explain the high abundance and wide distribution of C. convexus in Africa.

KW - carrion

KW - Diplopoda

KW - faeces

KW - population stability

KW - predation

KW - Scarabaeidae

U2 - 10.1111/aec.13424

DO - 10.1111/aec.13424

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85169791650

VL - 48

SP - 1815

EP - 1827

JO - Austral Ecology

JF - Austral Ecology

SN - 1442-9993

IS - 8

ER -