Machado Franca, Filipe and Korasaki, Vanesca and Louzada, Julio Neil and Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Zagury (2016) First report on dung beetles in intra-Amazonian savannahs in Roraima, Brazil. Biota Neotropica, 16 (1). ISSN 1676-0611
1676_0611_bn_1676_0611_2015_0034.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (557kB)
Abstract
This is the first study to address the dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) diversity in intra-Amazonian savannahs in the state of Roraima, Brazil. Our aim was to survey the dung beetle fauna associated with these savannahs (regionally called 'lavrado'), since little is known about the dung beetles from this environment. We conducted three field samples using pitfall traps baited with human dung in savannah areas near the city of Boa Vista during the rainy seasons of 1996, 1997, and 2008. We collected 383 individuals from ten species, wherein six have no previous record in intra-Amazonian savannahs. The most abundant species were Ontherus appendiculatus (Mannerheim, 1829), Canthidium aff. humerale (Germar, 1813), Dichotomius nisus (Olivier, 1789), and Pseudocanthon aff. xanthurus (Blanchard, 1846). We believe that knowing the dung beetles diversity associated with the intra-Amazonian savannahs is ideal for understanding the occurrence and distribution of these organisms in a highly threatened environment, it thus being the first step towards conservation strategy development.