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Summary of the morphological and ecological traits of Central European dung beetles.
Ecological, morphological and life-history traits have been increasingly used in community ecology during
the last decade. Dung beetles represent a model group of insects frequently used in studies of landscape
ecology and grassland management. Their body sizes and nesting behavioral traits are regularly used to
help understand ecological processes at the community level. However, information on their seasonal activity,
wing morphometry and dung specialization is sparse in published reports, or is simply not available
yet. We thus compiled a comprehensive list of the morphological and ecological traits of Central European
dung beetles (Geotrupidae, Scarabaeidae and Aphodiidae). We gathered information from published works
and, for the first time, took morphometric measurements of wings. We provide a database of 12 traits for
all 100 dung beetle species occurring in Central Europe. Most species are not restricted to one specific dung
type, and the most frequently used dung types are sheep/goat, cattle and horse dung, which are almost
equally exploited by 90, 89 and 87 species, respectively. More than one-third of all species are active in
winter, and the number of active species is the highest in June. The wing morphometry shows a high variation
and is largely determined by the family identity; the ratio of elytron length to wing area is the largest
in Aphodiidae but the smallest in Geotrupidae. Our database is the first standardized set of information for
Central European dung beetles and can be used in future trait-based studies focusing on the ecology and
conservation of these beetles