S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 47/1-2. (Budapest, 1986)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK XLVIL 1-2 1986 p. 5-12 Beetles (Coleoptera) inhabiting sheep droppings in dry pastures of Hungary By L. ÁDÁM (Received March 1, 1986) Abstract: An analysis of the species-composition of the beetles inhabiting sheep droppings in three plant communities of dry pastures in Hungary is given. Fourty-five coprophagous species were found. On the base of the characteristic species and of the dominance relationships three characteristic aspects in the growth season are separable; the summer aspect of the coprophagous beetle community in sheep droppings is distinguished from that of the cattle droppings by their species-composition. A hypothesis concerning the temporal changes in the constant minimiarea of the coprophagous beetle communities is given. INTRODUCTION This paper is concerned with cenological and ecological relationships of the beetles inhabiting sheep droppings in dry pastures of Hungary. It sums up some results of a larger programme aiming to study the population interactions of flies, beetles and mites living in sheep droppings there. A paper on the flies (Dipteral involved has already been published (PAPP, 1985). Unfortunately, there is only a limited possibility to compare the coprophagous beetle communities of the dry sheep pastures in Hungary to those of other European countries. The coprophagous beetles of wet pastures and mountain green-pastures of West, Northwest and Central Europe - the subject of most of the papers published hitherto - are completely different from those of our dry pastures, obviously as a consequence of the entirely different ecological factors (different climatic influences and plant communities). A comparison is so much the more problematic since the available data in this respect refer mainly to beetles inhabiting cattle droppings (DESIÈRE and THOME, 1977, HANSKI, 1980a, 1980b, 1980c, 1980d, HANSKI and KOS KE LA, 1977, 1978, 1979, KOSKELA and HANSKI, 1977); BREYMEYER (1974) and WHITE (1960) with beetles inhabiting sheep droppings but a list of the species was given in the former one only. As a rule, because of the different aims of the works, of the differences in the methods applied, etc. a comparison of the coprophagous beetle communities of any given area is feasible in the widest sense only (mostly only as regards the species-composition). In this respect, the coprophagous beetle communities in wet pastures and in mountain green-pastures treated in the papers above are similar to those of the similar pastures in Hungary (with characteristical wide-spread, e.g. Eurosiberian, non-arboreal species); the species-composition of the coprophagous communities in our dry pastures are quite different (with Mediterranean and continental steppe species).