Comparison of mediterranean dung beetles (Coleoptera : Scarabaeoidea) in cattle and rabbit dung

The communities of coprophagous beetles feeding on large herbivorous dung a nd on rabbit dung heaps were studied in a Mediterranean area of the south e astern Iberian Peninsula. The results of this study show highly significant differences in composition (number of species, individuals, and biomass), structure (distribution of abundance fitted to Motomura's model), and diver sity (Shannon H' and Equitability E indices) between these communities. The dung beetle assemblages from large herbivorous dung showed the highest div ersity and species richness without dominant species, whereas rabbit dung h eaps present a low diversity and. some dominant species. Our results sugges t the occurrence of a Mediterranean community of dung beetles specially lin ked to rabbit dung heaps.