Sucessão de Scarabaeidae em Fezes Bovinas em Itumbiara, GoiásRESUMO -A sucessão de Scarabaeidae em fezes bovinas depositadas em pastagens foi observada de janeiro a agosto de 2001 em Itumbiara, Goiás (18º25'S; 49º13'W). Fezes bovinas recém-excretadas foram expostas nas pastagens por um, dois, três, quatro, cinco, seis, sete, oito, nove e dez dias e posteriormente levadas para o laboratório para a separação e triagem dos Scarabaiedae presentes. Um total de 100 fezes bovinas foram expostas nas pastagens, das quais 3.220 espécimes de Sarabaeidae foram coletados. As espécies coletadas em maior número de indivíduos foram Ataenius aequalis Harold e Aphodius lividus Balth. A maioria das espécies foi coletada em fezes bovinas expostas pelo período de um e dois dias.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Arthropoda, Coleoptera, bovino, controle biológico ABSTRACT -The succession of Scarabaeidae in cattle dung deposited in pasture were observed from January to August 2001 in Itumbiara County, State of Goiás, Brazil (18º25'S; 49º13'W). Fresh cattle dung pats were exposed on a pasture area for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten days and then taken individually to the laboratory for screening and identification of the Scarabaeidae therein present. A total of 100 dung pads were exposed in the field from which 3,229 specimens of Scarabaeidae were recovered. The most frequent species found were: Ataenius aequalis Harold and Aphodius lividus Balth. The majority of specimens were collected in cattle dung exposed for one and two days.KEY WORDS: Arthropoda, Coleoptera, bovine, biocontrol Bovine fecal masses act as shelters or may be source of food for a rich and varied fauna, including sinanthropic Diptera of veterinarian importance, among which the horn-fly (Haematobia irritans L.) (Diptera: Muscidae) should be emphasized (Fletchmann et al. 1995). The H. irritans adults are hematophagous, however their eggs are deposited on bovine fecal masses, which is the ideal environment for development of their larvae and from where the fully developed adults attack the cattle (Fletchmann et al. 1995a) The Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera) are generally coprophagous and inhabitants of excrements, where larvae and adults feed. They are considered very important in controlling sinanthropic flies that reproduce on bovine dung (Fletchmann et al. 1995a, Martin & Contel 1997a, Koller et al. 1999, Aidar et al. 2000 and parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes of bovines, besides improving soil structure and fertility (Calafiori 1979, Miranda et al. 2000, Fletchmann et al. 1995a).They present a characteristic behavior of burying small portions of fecal mass in the soil as well as of burrowing galleries, causing aeration and at the same time dryness of the soil besides also burying larvae and eggs that are eventually present in the fecal mass attacked by them (Fletchmann et al. 1995a) The objective of the present research work was to study the succession of the Scarabaeidae that occur on field exposed bovine dung pads, which are naturally visited by copro...
