Rainfall shapes the physiological condition, but not the body size, of an introduced dung beetle in Brazilian pastures

Seasonal rainfall patterns play a crucial role in shaping the biology, ecology, and physiology of animals, particularly in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. Understanding these dynamics is critical under climate change scenarios, as shifts in rainfall regimes can disrupt phenological and physiological adaptations. However, physiological responses of Digitonthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787), an African dung beetle introduced worldwide for pasture improvement, to seasonal rainfall variation remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the effects of seasonal rainfall on physiological condition of D. gazella collected during the dry and rainy seasons in introduced Brazilian pastures. So, we developed one dataset containing body condition metrics (e.g., body size, body dry mass, lipid mass and muscle mass) of males and females of D. gazella sampled in the dry and rainy season in pasturelands. We found that seasons did not affect D. gazella body size, dry and lipid masses. The..., We sampled beetles in December 2023 (rainy) and July 2024 (dry), in two pasturelands sites (Urochloa spp.) in Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul. The sampling was carried out using light traps and directly from cattle fecal excrement in the pastures to capture live beetles. Individuals were individually stored in plastic vials, being posteriorly sacrificed in freezers at -5 °C. They were stored 14 days before the estimation of dung beetles’ physiological condition. From each individual, we measured dry, lipid, and muscle masses as indicators of physiological condition. 
To obtain the body dry mass, the individuals were placed in a desiccator (SolidSteel – SSA; 50 °C) for 72 h and measured to the nearest 0.0001 mg with a precision balance (Gehara AG 200). To extract the lipid mass the beetles were placed individually in falcon tubes containing 3mL of chloroform for 48 h, then the individuals were placed in the desiccator again for 72 h and the difference between the body dry mass a..., # Rainfall shapes the physiological condition, but not the body size, of an introduced dung beetle in Brazilian pastures

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.ngf1vhj7v](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ngf1vhj7v)

## Description of the data and file structure

In this dataset, we provide body condition data (e.g., body size, dry body mass, lipid mass, and muscle mass) for male and female *D. gazella* individuals collected during the dry and rainy seasons in pasturelands. The dataset includes information on 200 individuals, with 100 sampled in the rainy season (December 2023–January 2024) and 100 in the dry season (July–August 2023), from two pastureland sites (*Urochloa* spp.) located in Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

### Files and variables

#### File: Digitonthophagus_gazella_data.xlsx

Information on body condition metrics of Digitonthophagus gazella in Excel format

##### Variables

* **Seasons** – Refers to the two sampling periods in the study: rainy (December 2023–January 2024) an...,