ABSTRACT
Resumen En el presente trabajo se estudia la diversidad de escarabajos coprófagos en tres zonas urbanizadas del departamento de Sucre, Colombia, cada una con características ecológicas distintas. Los individuos fueron capturados con trampas de caída cebadas. Se analizaron el esfuerzo de muestreo, las curvas de rango-abundancia y los índices de diversidad alfa y beta. Se capturaron 710 individuos, agrupados en nueve géneros y 13 especies. El análisis de completitud arrojó valores por encima del 97%. El ensamble más diverso en cualquiera de los tres órdenes de "q" se encontró en la zona que alberga edificaciones, jardines y un parche de bosque de vegetación secundaria, seguido por una zona de pastizales, con pocas edificaciones; el ensamble de menor diversidad correspondió a la zona rodeada de edificaciones y con escasa cobertura vegetal. El índice de Sorensen-Dice arrojó una similitud total entre las tres zonas del 38%. Las curvas de rango-abundancia mostraron mayor equidad de especies en la zona más diversa. Los resultados indicaron que la composición del ensamble de escarabajos depende de las condiciones ambientales y el grado de urbanización. Así mismo, se evidenció que algunas especies pueden tener alta adaptabilidad y que algunas de ellas corren el riesgo potencial de presentar eventos de extinción local.
Abstract In this paper, diversity and composition of dung beetles assemblage was study in three urbanized areas with different ecological characteristics from Sucre department , Colombia. Individuals were captured with baited pitfall traps. Sampling effort, range-abundance curves, alpha and beta diversity indices were estimated and compared among the sites. Seven hundred ten individuals grouped into nine genera and 13 species were recorded. The completeness analysis yielded values above 97%. The most diverse assemblage in any of the three orders of "q" was found in the site with a mixture of buildings, gardens, and a patch of secondary vegetation forest, followed by the site with few facilities and open green spaces, and the least diverse site corresponded to the area surrounded by buildings with little vegetation cover. Sorensen-Dice index similarity among the three sites was 38%. The range-abundance curves showed higher species equitability in the most diverse site. The results show that the beetle assemblage composition depends on environmental conditions and the degree of urbanization. It was also evident that some species have high adaptability to urban spaces and others are potentially at risk of local extinction events.
ABSTRACT
Dichotomius (Dichotomius) quadrilobatus new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Dichotomiini), from western Amazonia (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) is described and its putative systematic position within the Dichotomius boreus species group is discussed. An updated identification key to the species of the Dichotomius boreus species group is provided. Additionally, Dichotomius (Selenocopris) fortepunctatus Luederwaldt, 1923 is recorded for the first time in Colombia.
Subject(s)
Coleoptera , Animals , ColombiaABSTRACT
We present a review of Scatimus Erichson (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Ateuchini: Scatimina) in Colombia, with the description of S. strenua new species from the Central Andes (Antioquia Department). Records of S. strandi Balthasar from southwestern Colombia (Caquetá and Nariño Departments) are validated. The distributions of S. ovatus Harold from the Magdalena, Chocó-Darién, and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta provinces and S. fernandezi Martínez in the eastern foothills of the Eastern Cordillera (Orinoco-Amazon) are confirmed. New departmental records and distribution maps for Colombia are presented; an updated key for the taxonomic identification of Scatimus is included. With a total of four species, Colombia has the second highest Scatimus species richness of any country.
Subject(s)
Coleoptera , Animals , ColombiaABSTRACT
Dung beetles of the subfamily Scarabaeinae are widely recognised as important providers of multiple ecosystem services and are currently experiencing revisions that have improved our understanding of higher-level relationships in the subfamily. However, the study of phylogenetic relationships at the level of genus or species is still lagging behind. In this study we investigated the New World beetle genus Dichotomius, one of the richest within the New World Scarabaeinae, using the most comprehensive molecular and morphological dataset for the genus to date (in terms of number of species and individuals). Besides evaluating phylogenetic relationships, we also assessed species delimitation through a novel Bayesian approach (iBPP) that enables morphological and molecular data to be combined. Our findings support the monophyly of the genus Dichotomius but not that of the subgenera Selenocopris and Dichotomius sensu stricto (s.s). Also, our results do not support the recent synonymy of Selenocopris with Luederwaldtinia. Some species-groups within the genus were recovered, and seem associated with elevational distribution. Our species delimitation analyses were largely congruent irrespective of the set of parameters applied, but the most robust results were obtained when molecular and morphological data were combined. Although our current sampling and analyses were not powerful enough to make definite interpretations on the validity of all species evaluated, we can confidently recognise D. nisus, D. belus and D. mamillatus as valid and well differentiated species. Overall, our study provides new insights into the phylogenetic relationships and classification of dung beetles and has broad implications for their systematics and evolutionary analyses.
