Climatic change, habitat modification and relative age of dung beetle taxa (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Hydrophilidae, Histeridae, Staphylinidae) in the South-Western Cape
1. Two study sites near Pretoria in the Transvaal were located in a summer rainfall climatic area, type 113d (Walter & Lieth 1964), on deep and in both open woodland and grassland. 2. Eleven study sites in the south-western Cape were distributed between two winter rainfall climatic areas, type IV in the Cape of Good Hope Peninsula and type III(IV)a (Walter & Lieth 1964) on the west coast. The west coast could be divided into two subregions, the coastal belt of deep calcareous sand and the Darling Hills comprising predominantly sandy soils with a higher clay fraction. Vegetation at the sites formed a gradient from low, dense pasture to taller sparser shrubland; The five pasture sites were distributed between all three subregions whereas the six shrubland sites were located only in the Cape of Good Hope Peninsula and on the west coastal belt. 3. Pitfall traps baited with cattle dung were used to sample dung beetle fauna over 24h periods once a week in the Transvaal, irrespective .of weather (three traps/site), and on three sunny occasions per month in the south-western Cape (ten traps/site) for one year. 4. A further 13 study sites used for back-up studies in the south-western Cape were concentrated into three localities, three in the Cape of Good Hope Peninsula, six on the west coastal plain and four-in the Darling Hills. These sites comprised different combinations of pasture (five sites) and shrubland (eight sites) habitats. Five traps at each site were baited on one 24h occasion each month over six months.
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