Species of Drosophila (Diptera: Drosophilidae) attracted to dung and carrion baited pitfall traps in the Uruguayan Eastern Serranías

Abstract

This study investigates the species richness and abundance of Drosophila Fallén, 1823 attracted to dung and carrion baited pitfall traps in natural areas with heterogeneous habitats at the Sierra de Minas, Eastern Serranías, southeastern Uruguay. Collecting was carried out on a monthly basis (May 2002 through April 2003). Drosophilids accounted for 0.84% (n = 131) and 3.61% (n = 158) of the Diptera collected from dung (n = 15,630) and carrion (n = 4,382) pitfall traps, respectively. A total of 12 species were identified, 11 of which belong to the subgenus Drosophila (the richest) and one to the subgenus Sophophora Sturtevant, 1939. Over 90% of the Drosophila specimens collected belong to five species of the subgenus Drosophila, namely D. gaucha Jaeger & Salzano, 1953, D. immigrans Sturtevant, 1921, D. mediovittata Frota-Pessoa, 1954, D. aff. nappae Vilela, Valente & Basso-da-Silva, 2004, and D. ornatifrons Duda, 1927. Drosophila cardini Sturtevant, 1916 is recorded for the first time from Uruguay. Drosophila abundance and species richness in the four habitats sampled in the Uruguayan Eastern Serranías, namely woodlands sierra, riparian forest, pine plantation and grazing grassland, were considered to be a function of habitat conservation. Diversity indices were low in all habitats. Different habitats supported particular coprophilous and necrophilous Drosophila species. The woodland sierra represents the most preserved habitat, and contributed with the highest species richness observed. Drosophila ornatifrons was the dominant species, with a restricted habitat distribution. On the other hand, grazed grassland, an environment modified by livestock management, had the lowest species richness: only a few specimens of D. repleta Wollaston, 1858. Regarding species composition, significant differences were found in some pairwise comparisons of groups of Drosophila species that included D. ornatifrons. Fly attraction to dung can be exploited as an alternative and/or complementary collecting method in ecological studies of Drosophila assemblages in natural areas

Genomic changes associated with adaptation to arid environments in cactophilic Drosophila species

“…Many species in this group, such as the mulleri subgroup species Drosophila mojavensis , D. buzzatii and D. aldrichi , are desert-adapted and display extremely high heat, cold and desiccation tolerance [2, 3] but other species, such as the hydei and repleta subgroup species D. hydei and D. repleta , are largely found outside the desert and are much less tolerant of these stresses [2, 3, 6]. Notably also, while all the repleta group species are saprophagous (feed on rotting tissue) they vary widely in their host preferences; the desert species are dietary specialists that feed and breed on necrotic cactus tissue, whereas D. hydei and D. repleta are dietary generalists which can utilise a wide range of rotting fruits and vegetables, as well as animal faeces and, in the case of D. hydei , cacti as well [7–10].…”

Changes in the recovery of insects in pitfall traps associated with the age of cow dung bait fresh or frozen at the time of placement

“…Dung-baited pitfall traps are commonly used to characterize local assemblages of coprophagous insects (Howden and Nealis, 1975; Floate and Gill, 1998; Price, 2004; Bertone et al ., 2005; Floate, 2007; Webb et al ., 2007; Louzada and Silva, 2009; Brousseau et al ., 2010; Fiene et al ., 2011; Goñi et al ., 2012; Rounds and Floate, 2012; Viegas et al ., 2014; Jochmann and Blanckenhorn, 2016; Rentz and Price, 2016). Pitfall traps are inexpensive, easy to maintain and can recover large numbers of insects in a short period of time (Bezanson and Floate, 2020).…”

Histeridae (Coleoptera) De Uruguay: Lista Preliminar De Especies, Nuevos Registros Y Distribución Potencial

“…Considerando la riqueza de especies existente a nivel regional, es de esperar que la riqueza de Histeridae en Uruguay sea mayor a la ya conocida. Desde el punto de vista ecológico, un estudio sobre coleópteros sarcosaprófagos realizado en un paisaje de serranía de Uruguay demostró que hay especies de histéridos típicas de bosques nativos y otras que prefieren el pastizal (González-Vainer & Morelli 2008;González-Vainer et al, 2012). De allí se desprende la necesidad de realizar relevamientos de estos insectos en diferentes ambientes para ampliar el conocimiento sobre su riqueza.…”