Observations of immature and adult stages of the myrmecophilous cetoniine beetle Campsiura nigripennis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Several cetoniine species are known or speculated to be associated with ants, based on their specialized morphological characters. However, there are only a few species where biological information on the larval and adult stages is available. Field observations revealed that Campsiura nigripennis spends the immature stages inside elephant dung, and that adult females fly to elephant dung for oviposition. In addition, adult beetles of C.nigripennis intruded into arboreal nests of Oecophylla smaragdina. Specialized morphological characters appear to allow them to tolerate attacks from the ants. Furthermore, the distribution of the beetle in continental Asia largely overlaps that of the Asian elephant, indicating that dung of elephants, in conjunction with that of other large mammals, is fundamental to the biology of C.nigripennis. © 2014 The Entomological Society of Japan.