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

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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.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to San Fernando landowners and PRONATURA, the administrator of Huitepec Reserve, for allowing access to field sites. Taxonomical identifications were confirmed by S. J. Ashe† (Staphylinidae), G. E. Ball (Carabidae), M. S. Caterino (Histeridae), A. R. Cline (Nitidulidae), S. B. Peck (Leiodidae). Dolores Vidal (UNICACH) provided laboratory rats. Manuel Girón, Arcángel Molina and Irma Miss helped in the field. Michael Caterino, Jack Longino, Robert Anderson and two anonymous reviewers provided useful comments on early versions of this paper. Funding was provided by The National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT: Grants J35230-V, CHIS-2005-C03-054, CONACYT-SEMARNAT 108222, PIFOP-ECOSUR, and PATM-ECOSUR).

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  1. Departamento de Ecología y Sistemática Terrestre, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Carr. Panamericana y Av. Periférico Sur S/N, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, 29290, Mexico

    Ubaldo Caballero & Jorge L. León-Cortés

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Correspondence to Jorge L. León-Cortés.

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Caballero, U., León-Cortés, J.L. High diversity beetle assemblages attracted to carrion and dung in threatened tropical oak forests in Southern Mexico. J Insect Conserv 16, 537–547 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-011-9439-y

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