Fimicolous Staphylinidae prey on rearing dipterous in cattle dung, acting
as their natural controllers, including pests such as horn fly. To survey
the abundance and succession of these coleopterans in cattle dung deposited
in pasture, six experiments were conducted from March to October 1995 in
Uberlandia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Cattle dung pats were exposed at
a pasture for 1 hr, 8 hr, 24 hr, 2, 3, 7 and 10 days and were than taken to
laboratory separate from each other, for Staphylinidae extraction. A total
of 156 dung pats were exposed at pasture, from which 6225 Staphylinidae
were recovered. Representing at least 30 species. Staphylinidae sp.1
(29.6%), Philonthus flavolimbatus (22.2%), Heterothops sp.1 (16.6%),
Oxytelus sp.2 (7.6%), Aleochara sp.2 (7.6%) and Criptobium sp.1 (4.4%) were
the most abundant, representing 87.8% from the total. The increased
frequency of the majority of these species along the dung exposition time
at pasture, indicated tha, they would be preying on at all the immature
stages of the dipterous, or eggs and first instar larvae of species that
lay eggs on the dung after its second exposition day at the pasture.
