Species composition of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) in the coffee plantation of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve of the Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Analysis of species composition of dung beetles in the shaded coffee plantations of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve of south Western Ghats revealed a checklist of 38 species. The presence of many endemic species, very primitive rare old world tribe Canthonini represented by the genus Ochicanthon, the first report of Onthophagus lilliputanus and the presence of two (O. truncaticornis and O. discedens) which were deemed as extinct from the natural forests of the Western Ghats) make the dung beetle assemblage in the coffee plantation unusual. Onthophagus lilliputanus and the presence of two species (O. truncaticornis and O. discedens). The study showed species composition of dung beetles in the shaded coffee plantation with a comparatively smaller area had no major differences with the nearby natural forests in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Higher species richness and presence of some unique species in the coffee plantation belt compared to other agricultural habitats highlights the significance of shaded coffee plantations as an important nested habitat in the forest-agriculture land matrix of the moist Western Ghats.