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The Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 1309-1318 (2003)
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00250

The role of the subelytral spiracles in respiration in the flightless dung beetle Circellium bacchus

Marcus J. Byrne1,* and Frances D. Duncan2

1 Ecophysiological Studies Research Programme, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Wits 2050, South Africa
2 School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Parktown 2193, South Africa

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: marcus{at}gecko.biol.wits.ac.za)

Accepted 21 January 2003

The role of the subelytral cavity in flightless beetle species as an adaptation to water saving in arid habitats is still in dispute. We found that relatively little CO2 was released from the subelytral cavity of a large apterous beetle Circellium bacchus during simultaneous measurements of CO2 emission from the anterior mesothoracic spiracles and posterior body, which included the subelytral spiracles. However, when we sampled air directly from inside the subelytral cavity, we discovered that this pattern was reversed. A discontinuous gas exchange cycle (DGC) was recorded from the posterior body half, revealing a flutter phase that had been absent from the anterior mesothoracic DGC. The anterior mesothoracic and posterior subelytral spiracles act in synchrony to maintain high CO2 and water vapour levels inside the subelytral cavity. In addition, the O2 concentration of the air within the subelytral cavity is lower than the air around the elytral case, irrespective of the time of sampling. These findings lead us to conclude that the subelytral spiracles work in a coordinated fashion with the anterior spiracles to create a DGC, which allows us to extend the hypothesis of the function of the subelytral cavity as a respiratory water-saving device.

Key words: discontinuous gas exchange cycle, Scarabaeidae, Circellium bacchus, beetle, spiracle, subelytral cavity


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