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Dung beetles are important to healthy cattle pasture ecosystems as they provide for nutrient recycling, removal of waste products from the soil surface and assist in the reduction of pestiferous flies. Numerous exotic dung beetles have been accidentally or intentionally introduced to the North American continent and several of these have become established. We surveyed for the presence and distribution of dung beetles on four cattle farms in north central Florida over a 3.5-yr period using cattle dung-baited pitfall traps placed at least every 3 wk. In total, 39 species from 20 genera were identified with a total of 62,320 beetles collected in traps. Although none were intentionally released in Florida, six exotic species were present. Significant differences were observed in species captures among the three most sampled farms, with beetle species dominance patterns differing among the farms. The native species, Onthophagus tuberculifrons Harold, was the most commonly collected species, and both it and the introduced Labarrus pseudolividus Balthasar, had mass emergences. Four of the six most commonly collected species were exotics and included, in order of abundance, L pseudolividus, O. gazella (F.), O. taurus (Schreber), and Euoniticellus intermedius (Reiche).

The horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.) is an important cattle pest and traditionally has been managed using insecticides; however, many horn fly populations are insecticide-resistant in United States. Use of alternative control techniques has been limited because of the challenges of managing a fly pest on pastured cattle. After the discovery of a wild horn fly infected with Beauveria bassiana in Florida, the fungus was cultured and evaluated for efficacy against laboratory-reared horn flies. This fungal strain was selected for increased virulence by passage through laboratory-reared horn fly hosts to shorten interval from infection to fly death and subsequent conidia formation, properties important to future use of the fungus as a biological control agent against horn flies. After seven passages through horn fly hosts, fly mortality was not significantly accelerated as evaluated through LT50 values, but conidia were readily produced from these killed flies. Although further development is needed to improve fungal efficacy, this fungal strain holds promise as a biological control agent for inclusion in horn fly integrated pest management programs.