Although once thought to be primarily
coprophagous or fungivorous (Evans et al.
This
coprophagous (dung-feeding) beetle lives and nests only in the remains of the nests of the Mexican ant Atta mexicana (habitat rarity) and does not even occupy all of them, nor is it abundant, suggesting great demographic rarity.
Macrochelid mites have been recovered from the body surface of adult flies, as well as from
coprophagous scarab beetles and even from some rodents (reviewed by Krantz 1983).
Burial of bovine dung by
coprophagous beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from horse and cow grazing sites in El Salvador.
The use of trophic guilds/ functional guilds (necrophagous, saprophagous,
coprophagous, tunnelers, dwellers and rollers) may also reveal interesting differences in the structure and functioning of ecosystems and landscape (Paoletti, 1999).
This is the case of Diptera saprophagous,
coprophagous et necrophagous.
Notes on the seasonal dynamics of some
coprophagous Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) species in Manisa province, western Anatolia.
Effects of the clearing in a tropical rain forest on the composition of
coprophagous scarab beetles fauna (Coleoptera).
The larvae are probably
coprophagous, as judged by a published observation of a female apparently laying eggs on a scarab dung ball (Emden 1941).
In the three surveyed areas 44,355 individuals of the
coprophagous Scarabaeoidea were collected, represented by 54 species, being 52 of Scarabaeidae (44,221 individuals [99.69%]) in 19 genera and two subfamilies (Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae), and two species of Coilodes Westwood (1845), with 134 individuals (0.31%) from Hybosorinae (Hybosoridae) (Table 1).
Eggs are ingested by the intermediate host (a variety of species of arthropods, mainly
coprophagous beetles) and the larvae encyst within the tissues and develop to infectivity (L3) within two months.
Termites are
coprophagous (Waller & LaFage 1987), but experimental data is lacking regarding the nutritional benefit termites receive from ingestion of their feces.