Copris fidius (Olivier, 1789)

Gillett, Conrad P. D. T. & Barr, Iain, 2018, New Country Records of Scarab Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) in Swaziland and Zambia, The Coleopterists Bulletin 72 (3), pp. 433-438 : 436

Copris fidius (Olivier, 1789)

( Fig. 3A )

Previously recorded from The Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC), Mozambique, and South Africa ( Ferreira 1972; Nguyen-Phung 1988; Davis 2013a; Deschodt et al. 2015b).

New country record for Swaziland: Ten specimens, Mbuluzi Game Reserve, 20–30 March 2016. Nocturnal. We found this species in overnight pitfall traps baited with fresh wildebeest dung, in company with Copris elphenor Klug. It was captured only during March 2016, which was a comparatively wet period compared to April 2015, when no specimens were found despite many pitfall traps being operated. The species is recorded as being “centred on forest patches, both along the eastern coastline of South Africa as far as the extreme south of Mozambique, and at higher altitude along the edge of the eastern escarpment in the north of its South African range” ( Deschodt et al. 2015b). It was evaluated as belonging to the category of ‘least concern’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ( Davis 2013a).

Genus Copridaspidus Boucomont, 1920

This monotypic genus contains only the following species, which is rarely collected and known only from disjunct regions of moist savanna from the north and south of the Congo Basin ( Davis et al. 2008).The nesting behavior of the genus remains unknown.

Figures

Figs. 1–3. 1) Maps depicting the approximate locations of the main sampling sites (numbered and named) in A) Zambia and B) Swaziland; 2) Habitats at sampling localities – A) Savanna-forest at Mbuluzi Game Reserve, Lubombo, Swaziland, March 2016, B) Montane grassland at Malolotja Nature Reserve, Hhohho, Swaziland, March 2016, C) Miombo woodland, 30 km SSW of Kitwe, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, December 2011; 3) Newly recorded species of scarabaeine dung beetles from Swaziland – A) Copris fidius, B) Catharsius tricornutus, C) Proagoderus lanista. All photographs by Conrad P. D. T. Gillett.