Diversity of coprophagous scarab beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) collected with flight intercept trap in the Southern Pantanal, Brazil

Abstract

Coprophagous scarab beetles play an important ecological role in the ecosystems; however, studies on diversity of such insects are scarce for distinct biomes. The present study aimed to identify the Scarabaeidae coprophagous species which occur in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul. This study was carried out at the Nhumirim ranch (Embrapa Pantanal), located in the Nhecolândia sub-region of the Pantanal, from June 1992 to May 1993. For insect sampling, two window flight traps (1 × 1 m) were set up monthly during two to four consecutive days. The traps were placed in an open native grassland area (native pasture) and in a cerradão (dense savanna) area, remaining active from 19:00 PM to 07:00 AM, when caught insects were removed and fixed in 70% alcohol solution. It was collected 19587 individuals of Scarabaeidae, belonging to two subfamilies (Aphodiinae and Scarabaeinae), 11 genera, and 21 species. Coprophagoues scarab species found in the Southern Pantanal belonged to the genera Ataenius, Aphodius, Ateuchus, Canthidium, Dichotomius, Labarrus, Nialaphodius, Ontherus, Trichillum, Trichiopsammobius and Uroxys. Among the Aphodiinae, Ataenius sp.2 (96.17%) was the most abundant specie. On the other hand, Canthidium sp.1 (0.39%), Dichotomius sp. (0.28%), and D. bos (Blanchard, 1843) (0.16%) showed the highest abundance among the Scarabaeinae. Regarding their reproductive nesting behavior, 42.86% of the species were paracoprids (tunnelers) while 57.14% were endocoprids (dwellers).