Observations of immature and adult stages of the myrmecophilous cetoniine beetle C ampsiura nigripennis ( C oleoptera: S carabaeidae)

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 C ampsiura 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 O ecophylla smaragdina . Specialized morphological characters appear to allow them to tolerate attacks from the ants. Furthermore, the distribution of the beetle in continental A sia largely overlaps that of the A sian elephant, indicating that dung of elephants, in conjunction with that of other large mammals, is fundamental to the biology of C . nigripennis .