Dung beetles specimens along aridity gradients at the border of three deserts: Chihuahua (Mexico), Kalahari (South Africa) and Sahara (Morocco), 2013-2015.

The dataset comprises a subset of the information recorded in the thesis “Dung beetle traits: a conceptual, experimental and biogeographical approach”. It contains 2086 occurrences of Scarabaeidae species recorded from Mexico, Morocco and South Africa and 4 occurrences of Trogidae family from Morocco. Dung beetles specimens were surveyed along aridity gradients at the border of three deserts: Chihuahua (Mexico), Kalahari (South Africa) and Sahara (Morocco). The sampling campaigns took place before the rainy season (September 2013-14 Sahara, November 2014 Kalahari) and after the rainy season (April 2013-2014 Sahara, May 2014 Sahara and September 2015 Chihuahua). The National Spanish Museum of Sciences kept the specimens preserved at the 'Entomología' collection. Those from South Africa and Mexico were dried. A wing and elytra were extracted and pinned. Specimens from Morocco were preserved in alcohol.

本数据集为论文《蜣螂性状：概念、实验与生物地理学研究方法》（Dung beetle traits: a conceptual, experimental and biogeographical approach）中记录信息的子集。数据集包含采自墨西哥、摩洛哥与南非的金龟科（Scarabaeidae）物种记录共2086条，以及采自摩洛哥的皮金龟科（Trogidae）物种记录4条。研究沿三大沙漠边缘的干旱梯度对蜣螂（dung beetle）标本开展调查，三大沙漠分别为墨西哥奇瓦瓦沙漠、南非喀拉哈里沙漠与摩洛哥撒哈拉沙漠。采样工作分雨季前后两阶段进行：雨季前采样包括2013-2014年9月的撒哈拉沙漠区域、2014年11月的喀拉哈里沙漠区域；雨季后采样包括2013-2014年4月的撒哈拉沙漠区域、2014年5月的撒哈拉沙漠区域以及2015年9月的奇瓦瓦沙漠区域。西班牙国家科学博物馆将这批标本保存在其‘昆虫学’馆藏中，其中采自南非与墨西哥的标本采用干燥保存方式，研究人员从每份标本上提取一枚翅膀与鞘翅，并以针插法固定；采自摩洛哥的标本则以酒精浸泡方式保存。