Species list with pictorial key for dung beetles (coleoptera: scarabaeidae: scarabaeinae) of nelliampathi in south western ghats, india

Scarabaeinae dung beetles are globally distributed group of insects that are scavengers, primarily feeding on animal excrement, but may also feed on carrion, and decomposing fruits. Through their feeding behavior, they perform important ecosystem services. Dung beetle communities respond rapidly to habitat disturbance, specifically tropical forest disturbance, hence they are recognized as ideal ecological indicators to study effects of habitat disturbance on biodiversity. Western Ghats in India is one of the biodiversity hotspots of the world. However, its forests face tremendous population pressure due to agricultural expansion, infrastructure development and non-timber forest product harvest. This has contributed to loss of biodiversity and forest cover in the Western Ghats.There is limited information on ecologically important insects such as dung beetles of South Western Ghats. In the present study, dung baited pitfall traps were used to collect dung beetles across a forest-agriculture habitat ecotonein Nelliampathiin South Western Ghats. Thirty four species, belonging to 11 genera and seven tribes were collected from Nelliampathi. Three first reports for South India and nine endemics to Western Ghats were recorded. A species list with pictorial key for dung beetles of Nelliampathi in South Western Ghats is provided. Such a species list with pictorial key will provide baseline information and enable rapid identification of dung beetles of the region in future studies.