High diversity beetle assemblages attracted to carrion and dung in threatened tropical oak forests in Southern Mexico

Abstract

Despite high diversity levels of beetles inhabiting dung and carcasses, very few studies have attempted a comparative assessment of copro-necrophile beetle communities in relation to spatio-temporal variations, particularly in the tropics where the vast majority of beetles occur. We compared beetle assemblages attracted to pads of cattle dung and rat carcasses in four contrasting vegetation types associated with oak forest. In a total of 52 transects including 3,952 dung pad days and 2,600 carcass-trap days we recorded 14,989 beetles representing 406 species and 33 families. Necrophiles (323 species and 33 families) were considerably more diverse than coprophiles (172 species and 16 families). Staphylinidae were taxonomically and numerically dominant, comprising 45% of species and 66% of individuals, respectively. Species estimators (Chao 2) suggested that the observed beetle richness represented 68% of coprophile and 56% of necrophile species richness, with rare species constituting the majority of the species: singletons and doubletons = 89 species (52%) of coprophiles and 166 species (51%) of necrophiles. Beetle assemblages varied in diversity and composition as regards to vegetation type and season: samples from less disturbed vegetation types (continuous oak forest and ravines) had higher beetle diversity, and a strong seasonality effect was recorded for necrophiles, but not for coprophiles. In addition, an indicator value analysis (IndVal), showed that relatively preserved vegetation types recorded more indicator species as compared to disturbed sites. Our studies clearly demonstrates that the least fragmented oak forest and ravine are the most valuable areas for necrophile and coprophile beetles in Neotropical Mexico, especially for specialist beetles.

Rove beetles collected with carrion traps (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) in Quercus forest of Cerro de García, Jalisco and Quercus, Quercus-pine, and pine forests in other jurisdictions of Mexico

“…However, the species riches documented in Cerro de García was similar to 76 species captured in Quercus-pine forest, tropical deciduous forest, pine forest and crops (Márquez-Luna 2001), and to 81 species recorded from a Quercus forest and a mountain mesophile forest (Santiago 1999). The species riches in present study was only surpassed by that in a Quercus forest in Chiapas, with 142-181 species recorded (Caballero 2007, and Caballero & León-Cortés 2012.…”

“…The expanded knowledge of the diversity of carrion rove beetles, will help to establish strategies for the The richness of 75 species in the Quercus forest of Cerro de García, was the highest in comparison to results from different sampling in other types of vegetation in Mexico (tropical forest, deciduous forest, low subcaducifolia forest, high perennifolia forest, pine-oak forest, pine forest, mountain mesophile forest, xerophite scrub, pasture and seasonal crops). In the latter, a range of 9 to 59 species, were recorded (Huacuja-Zamudio 1982;Ruíz-Lizárraga 1993;Delgadillo-Reyes et al 1998;Morales et al 1998;Jiménez-Sánchez et al 2000a, 2000b, 2001Caballero 2003Caballero , 2012Caballero et al 2003;Márquez-Luna et al 2004;Acuña 2004;Cejudo & Deloya 2005;Flores 2009).…”

Species diversity and community structure of rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) attracted to dung of sika deer in coniferous forests of southwest Japan

“…; Caballero et al . ; Caballero & León‐Cortés ). Only adult beetles were collected; larval studies (e.g.…”

“…Sampling was conducted in the middle of each month from February 1997 to May 1998 for 1 week without re-baiting (in January 1998 the traps were left for 1 month because of heavy snow). Rove beetles were extracted by submerging and mixing trap contents in water (Ikeda et al 2002;Caballero et al 2009;Caballero & León-Cortés 2012). Only adult beetles were collected; larval studies (e.g.…”

Variación de la diversidad de Staphylinidae, Silphidae y Trogidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) en un gradiente urbano-agrícola en una región semiárida del Estado de México, México

“…Por el contrario, para la familia Staphylinidae, aunque en los últimos años se ha incrementado su conocimiento, aún hace falta trabajo taxonómico que permita conocer mejor la diversidad de estafilínidos. Los estudios sobre este grupo han sido llevados a cabo en gradientes o en mosaicos de diferentes tipos de vegetación (Márquez, 2003;Caballero et al, 2009;Jiménez-Sánchez et al, 2011;Caballero & León-Cortés, 2012;Jiménez-Sánchez et al, 2013;Rodríguez et al, 2019) y han arrojado datos importantes sobre la composición de los ensambles y los cambios asociados con la perturbación o con el manejo del suelo que induce un cambio de la cubierta terrestre, lo que ha permitido tentativamente correlacionar las diferencias de la riqueza y composición de especies con las características del hábitat, así como aumentar el conocimiento para algunas especies de las determinantes ambientales, hábitos alimentarios, altitud, entre otros aspectos que influyen en su distribución. Por lo tanto, en el presente estudio se investiga como el tipo de uso de suelo determina la abundancia, riqueza y diversidad de las familias de coleópteros necrófilos y epígeos (Staphylinidae, Silphidae y Trogidae) en un gradiente urbano-agrícola.…”