Abstract
The exotic dung beetle, Ataenius picinus, was first collected from Takara-jima Island, the Tokara Islands in 2008. Subsequently, in 2009, a large number of this beetle were collected by the light trap. It constituted 28.8% of the total number of dung beetles from the cow dung in the pasture in 2011. As a result of the present survey made in October 2015, a total of 662 dung beetles comprising three genera and seven species of the subfamilies Aphodiinae and Scarabaeinae, including At. picinus, were collected from the cow dung in Shironoyama and Ohara pastures, and by light traps on Takara-jima Island. At. picinus, constituted 16.3% of the total number of dung beetles collected from the cow dung in the pasture and by light traps. The result shows that At. picinus has became one of the abundant species in the pastures, and has continually settled in Takara-jima Island.
