RESUMO
RESUMEN Se estudió la composición faunística de los escarabajos coprófagos en cuatro sitios de muestreo en la zona norte de la Serranía de La Lindosa en el Departamento del Guaviare, evaluando la diversidad y la estructura de los ensamblajes que se compararon con trabajos realizados en otras zonas de la Guyana biogeográfica. Los resultados muestran valores bajos en la diversidad, propios de zonas con baja disponibilidad de recursos y gran exigencia climática y el predominio de especies de hábito de nidificación cavadora sobre especies residentes y rodadoras. La composición de la fauna presenta gran número de especies comunes con otras áreas de la región, similar a las afinidades encontradas para otros taxones que apoyan los nexos de estas serranías colombianas con los escudos guyanés y brasileño.
ABSTRACT Faunal composition of the coprophagous beetles was studied in four sampling sites in the northern area from the Serranía de La Lindosa in Guaviare, testing diversity values and structure of the assemblages that were compared with other research done in any other areas of Biogeographical Guyana. The results showed low diversity values, typical of areas with low availability of resources and extreme climatic conditions and showed the predominance of species with nesting digging habit over resident and rolling species. The fauna composition presents a large number of common species with any other areas of the region, as occur as other affinities found for other taxa that support the links of these Colombian mountains to the Guyanese and Brazilian shields.
RESUMO
Scoliid and Voria Tachinidae parasitoid wasps are shown to be able to control the population of the Taro Scarab beetle (Papuanauninodis, Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) larvae using a newly created continuous-time simulation model based on non-linear ordinary differential equations that track the populations of the beetle’s life cycle stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult and the populations of the two parasitoid wasps. Due to the fact that the scarab beetles are, relatively speaking, long lived it is challenging to drive down the adult population below the environmental carrying capacity. Mortality and predator/prey capture rates are modelled using the Weibull and Pascal probability distribution functions, respectively. We suggest the use of a virus or fungi to drive down the population of the adult beetles, the ambition being to avoid the use of pesticides so as to produce higher quality food that doesn’t damage human health via chemical residues.