Are yellow dung flies domesticated cow dung specialists?

Abstract

The theory of niche differentiation implies some extent of specialization of species with regard to key resources, notably food. Coprophagous (dung-eating) insect larvae play a critical role in the decomposition of livestock dung in modern and traditional agricultural grasslands. The yellow dung fly (Scathophaga stercoraria L.; Diptera: Scathophagidae) is one of the largest, most common and abundant dung decomposers on pastures in cold-temperate regions across the entire northern hemisphere. As this fly is often associated with domesticated cattle or dairy cows, which are commonly kept for human nutrition worldwide (beef, milk, cheese, etc.), it is sometimes suspected to be a cow dung specialist. However, yellow dung flies are regularly active on and around other dung types, and must have reproduced on dung of wild vertebrates before the domestication of cattle. We therefore experimentally studied the performance of yellow dung fly larvae on dung of various large domestic vs. wild mammals (cow, horse, wild boar, red deer) in the laboratory in Switzerland. Larval performance in terms of juvenile survival, egg-to-adult development time, growth rate, and final adult body size, the major life history indicators of individual reproductive success, did not vary greatly among the various dung types tested. Thus, yellow dung flies can successfully reproduce on multiple types of mammal (vertebrate) dung, wild and domestic, and are therefore dung generalists rather than specialists. We conclude that yellow dung flies are common in European low- and highlands because they could plastically shift to dung of common herbivorous livestock after their domestication without losing the ability to reproduce on dung of common wild mammals.