Diversity and Seasonality of Small Carrion Beetles (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) in a Protected Cloud Forest in Western Mexico

Structure of the Assemblages of Round Fungus Beetles (Leiodidae: Cholevinae and Leiodinae) Collected with Carrion-Baited Traps in Four Forest Types in the Haravéri Botanical Garden, San Sebastián Del Oeste, Jalisco, México

“…In all the types of vegetation, the dominant genus was Dissochaetus. In contrast with that reported for Talpa de Allende, Jalisco (Sandoval et al 2020), the leiodids from San Sebastián del Oeste have a preference for the cold season in the cloud forest. We think this is because the humidity is high during the summer, but in the oak forest the humidity is lower.…”

“…The sampling for that study used flight intercept traps (Chandler and Peck 1992). That is the biggest difference between other studies because Peck and Anderson (1985), Sandoval et al (2020), and this study used only baited pitfall traps. If we only consider the cholevines, our data are very similar in species diversity with half the generic diversity.…”

“…They found that species in the genus Dissochaetus were the most abundant, which agrees with our results. Sandoval et al (2020) did a study in a protected cloud forest in Fig. 6.…”

“…Most studies using carrion traps as a collecting method in Mexico mention members of this family as being abundant, but mention usually does not go beyond family level, and in only a few cases the genus name is provided (e.g., Morón and Terrón 1984). Sandoval et al (2020) presented the first work that addresses the ecology and biology of leiodids from Mexico (limited to the state of Jalisco) captured with carrion traps in a protected cloud forest. In that study, seasonality of the individuals was reported, as well as diversity by sampling methods used, and 4 new species records were reported for the state.…”

“…The study of leiodids in Mexico has previously been restricted to taxonomic revisions of some genera. Knowledge of regional or local diversity of the family is relatively poor (Peck and Cook 2016, 2017; Zaragoza-Caballero et al 2019; Sandoval et al 2020; Peck et al 2020). Most studies using carrion traps as a collecting method in Mexico mention members of this family as being abundant, but mention usually does not go beyond family level, and in only a few cases the genus name is provided (e.g., Morón and Terrón 1984).…”